Democratic revolt over Trump's DNI pick Pulte puts FISA re-authorization in jeopardy
Congress has until Friday to reauthorize the intelligence-gathering program.
Forty-five days after Congress punted a fight to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are staring down the new deadline Friday night -- that, if missed, President Donald Trump and intelligence leaders warn could leave the United States without an integral intelligence tool used to thwart terrorism.
But Trump's choice of Bill Pulte for the acting director of national intelligence post has thrown a wrench in momentum to reauthorize the controversial spy program by the end of the day Friday -- creating the possibility that the program's legal authorization will lapse for the first time.
Section 702, which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant, including when those people are communicating with Americans, has been fully reauthorized by Congress three times since the intelligence tool was created by law in 2008.
"Our Military Patriots desperately need FISA 702, and it is one of the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield," Trump posted on social media in the spring. "It has already prevented MANY such Attacks, and it is very important that it remain in full force and effect."
Democrats in both chambers have signaled objections to Pulte -- contending the director of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency does not have any national intelligence experience.
Johnson pushed back against Pulte's critics -- arguing that the president has the prerogative to choose his Cabinet while stressing that the president told reporters that Pulte would serve on an acting basis -- up to 210 days without Senate confirmation.
"We're going to pass FISA this week because it would go dark and it would be a calamitous situation for the country, so I am working to put that vote coalition together, and you'll see it come together,"Johnson said when asked about Pulte's qualifications.
Moderate Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska implored the president to reconsider Pulte.
"FISA gives us over 50% of our most sensitive intelligence and has enabled the U.S. to stop multiple terrorist attacks. Letting FISA lapse would reflect a nation paralyzed by hyper-partisanship and dysfunction. POTUS can help by canceling plans to put Bill Pulte as Acting DNI," Bacon said in a post on X.
Johnson dismissed Bacon's input, saying, "I don't think that's a necessary requirement of passing FISA, and anybody that equates those two things is playing with a dangerous situation."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said reversing Pulte's temporary appointment would only be a "starting point" to convince Democrats to pass FISA, but making another change at DNI wouldn't be enough on its own to sway Democrats.
"It's a step in the right direction, because it reverses something that is clearly out of bounds, unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to occur," Jeffries said.
The Senate last Friday defeated a procedural motion to move forward with a bipartisan package to reauthorize the warrantless spy program, creating a cloud of doubt that lawmakers will meet the deadline.
Before the president announced he was tapping Pulte for DNI, a bipartisan group of lawmakers was coalescing toward passage of a three-year FISA reauthorization. But Democrats are now balking at a long-term extension over their objections to Pulte.
"This was a bipartisan, bicameral, four-corners deal that everybody had pretty much signed off on, and the naming of Pulte to that position, although the timing arguably wasn't the best, I still don't think it ought to derail something that's this important," Thune, R-S.D., said on Friday.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton and Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley wrote to Marco Rubio in his capacity as national security adviser -- warning the intelligence community to prepare for a "potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection" if lawmakers blow past Friday's deadline.
Even if the Senate can muster the bipartisan support to pass the measure this week, House GOP leaders must deal with hardliners in the conference who are demanding more reforms to the program, including a warrant requirement and the inclusion of a permanent ban on the Federal Reserve's ability to issue a digital currency.
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