US: In fresh blow to House Speaker Johnson, surveillance bill blocked by Republicans

House Republicans on Wednesday (Apr 10) blocked a bill that would reauthorise a crucial national security surveillance program, marking a fresh blow to House Speaker Mike Johnson. According to a report by the news agency Associated Press, the procedural vote to bring up the bill failed 193-228, with nearly 20 Republicans voting no.

The report said that hours before the vote, House Speaker Johnson, 52, made a final push, urging for the passage (of the bill) saying that Congress must "address these abuses" without cutting off the surveillance program entirely. “It’s a critically important piece of our intelligence and law enforcement in this country," he told reporters.

What would the bill do?

The bill would renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans outside the US to gather foreign intelligence.

The reauthorisation is tied to a series of reforms to satisfy critics who complained of civil liberties violations against Americans. But Republican opponents complained that those changes did not go far enough.

It is unclear if the proposal, backed by the Biden administration and Johnson, would eventually have enough votes to advance.

Though the surveillance program expires on April 19, the Biden administration has said it expects its authority to collect intelligence to remain operational for at least another year, thanks to an opinion earlier in April from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which receives surveillance applications.

But administration officials said that if the program lapses, some telecommunications companies could reduce or stop cooperation with the government or challenge its authority.

FISA was used illegally against me: Trump

US officials said the surveillance program is crucial in disrupting terror attacks, cyber intrusions and foreign espionage, and has also produced intelligence that Washington relied on for specific operations.

On Wednesday, former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that FISA was illegally used against him.

"Kill FISA. It was illegally used against me, and many others. They spied on my campaign," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)