Bipartisan group of senators fail to stop FISA spying provision in year-end Pentagon bill

Sen. Rand Paul failed to strip the reauthorization of the government’s chief surveillance power from the annual Pentagon policy spending bill Wednesday night as a bipartisan group of lawmakers fell six votes short.

His motion was quashed 65-35.

Sens. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, and Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, attempted to whip enough votes to persuade the 41 lawmakers needed to remove from the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act a four-month extension of the spy power.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act gives the federal government the power to spy on foreigners abroad and is scheduled to expire at the end of the year.

Mr. Lee planned to propose legislation that would have forced a separate debate on extending FISA and its Section 702 spy powers rather than combining it with the NDAA.

Critics say the spying tool threatens constitutional rights when FBI or U.S. intelligence officials sift through the data, without a warrant, looking for dirt on Americans.

National security hawks cite the need to fend off global terrorist threats should take precedence.

“Governments never like anything that makes it more difficult to do what they want to do,” Mr. Lee said on the Senate floor. “But our law enforcement agencies do it all the time. They do it because they have to, because it’s the law.”

While Section 702 of FISA authorizes U.S. spy agencies to intercept communications of foreigners abroad, Americans can become ensnared in the surveillance when communicating with foreigners. The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies also have searched the collected data for information about Americans.

“They’ve known for five years it was going to expire at the end of this year. And yet they just want to punt it with a hope that they’ll never have to debate it,” Mr. Paul said. “Extending this section 702 robs Congress of the ability to make reforms now, and likely robs Congress of the opportunity to make reforms anytime in the next year.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson withdrew two pieces of competing legislation from the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees to overhaul Section 702 after members of both panels could not agree on one bill.

The current version of FISA was attached to the Senate’s NDAA bill as a short-term extension until April 19.