Nineteen national security-minded Republicans joined Democrats to end an effort by far-right members of the GOP to review and alter the regulations governing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which conspiratorial-minded rightwingers say is being used to spy on everyday Americans. Preacher of the House Mike Johnson says a “clean” renewal will be voted on next week.
Typically supported by conservatives, FISA has come under fire recently because it was used to monitor Carter Page, a former advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign who was fired in September 2016 after the campaign learned he had unauthorized contacts with Russian officials. Based on concurring information, the FBI received a FISA warrant to monitor Page’s communications with foreign nationals in October, a month later. Trump and his cronies claim this was the Deep State spying on Trump and his campaign.
The loss marks the seventh rules vote failure of this House session, the most since Gerald Ford was President. Immediately after the failure of the rule, the Republican Conference called a meeting for 4 p.m., its second meeting of the day, allegedly to discuss why the FISA reform bill failed for a third time, not at all to discuss Preacher Mike Johnson’s leadership.