House Republican leaders remain open to requiring warrants before federal agencies can access troves of data that may contain the information of U.S. citizens, but believe the short-term extension of key surveillance authorities should come first, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) told the Washington Examiner.
Like many of his current colleagues, the Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is a longtime critic of warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But pressure by the Trump administration to extend that surveillance authority has, in part, led him to support a short-term extension of the controversial spy powers, while maintaining that more reforms can be debated in the months ahead.
Section 702, which is set to expire in April, has long been one of the most contentious surveillance authorities in Congress. It pits national security hawks against a bipartisan group of lawmakers who note that the program allows the government to access communications involving the public without a warrant.
The authority permits U.S. intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign nationals located abroad, but in practice, communications involving U.S. persons can be swept up if they are in contact with those targets. Federal officials can then query that data and unmask the identities of Americans whose communications have been collected, a process critics say creates a backdoor way to search private citizens’ information without court approval.
Jordan told the Washington Examiner he believes lawmakers should pursue stricter privacy protections, pointing to the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act, legislation led by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) in the previous Congress.
“We will continue to work on that,” Jordan said of legislative proposals that mirror Davidson’s bill. “We think that makes sense. … We still like that idea.”
His comments come as House lawmakers prepare for a high-stakes vote on reauthorizing Section 702 before its April 20 expiration, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pushing an 18-month extension without reforms despite resistance from both Republicans and Democrats. A vote was intended to take place this week, though a source told the Washington Examiner last week the timeline has moved to mid-April amid broader opposition from House GOP lawmakers concerning FISA’s warrantless spying provisions.
Jordan said he and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AR) met with Republican lawmakers on Tuesday evening, describing it as an effort to answer questions and bolster support for the FISA extension.
Section 702 and related surveillance authorities have drawn scrutiny for years, particularly following the FBI’s discredited 2016 investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia. A 2019 Justice Department inspector general report found significant errors and omissions in the FBI’s use of surveillance tools during that inquiry, and a DOJ lawyer faced criminal charges for allegedly fabricating evidence in order to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Jordan said the surveillance program has changed significantly in recent years, adding more guardrails for Fourth Amendment protections, citing dozens of reforms enacted by Congress.
“It’s fundamentally a different program because of the work we’ve done,” he said. “With the 56 different reforms … certain accountability measures on the front end, accountability on the back end, if the rules and requirements aren’t followed, audits and reports and different things.”
He added that those changes, part of dozens of reforms adopted in the last Congress, have improved how the government handles sensitive searches that can involve private citizen data in the last 10 years.
“Specifically in 2021, there were 3 million searches done,” Jordan said. “Last year, there were 9,000 on U.S. persons. In 2021, there were 10,000 agents who had the ability to search the database. Today it’s a much smaller number.”
The Trump administration has said it desperately needs an extension due to current national security concerns, including the war with Iran, as the administration has raised concerns about possible retaliation, cyberattacks, and proxy activity targeting U.S. interests.
“During the middle of an operation in Iran … with attacks in our country in the last four weeks, the commander in chief said, ‘Can you give me an 18-month temporary extension?’” Jordan said. “It seems to me a temporary extension … is not too much to ask.”
The push for a reform-free extension comes after Congress last reauthorized Section 702 in 2024 through the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, or RISAA, which included a series of changes to how the surveillance authority is administered. The law extended the program for two years, setting the current expiration deadline and giving lawmakers another opportunity to revisit possible reforms.
RISAA included new compliance measures and oversight provisions but did not impose a warrant requirement for database searches involving U.S. persons. Warrant requirements have drawn bipartisan support. Government reviews in recent years have also documented instances of improper queries involving Americans, including searches tied to protesters, political donors, journalists, and public officials.
With the program now set to expire again, lawmakers are weighing whether to revisit those proposals or move forward with a temporary extension. Several reform bills — including the SAFE Act, the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act, and the Government Surveillance Reform Act — have been introduced as alternatives that would impose stricter limits on how Americans’ data can be accessed.
Whether Johnson has the votes for the reform-free extension remains to be seen.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which includes roughly 100 House Democrats, has formally opposed a reauthorization without changes to the program, marking its strongest stance yet against Section 702 and complicating the path forward for GOP leadership, according to the Hill. Progressive lawmakers argue that any extension should include a warrant requirement and additional safeguards.
Several Republicans have also signaled opposition, some similarly in line with progressive lawmakers’ demands for warrants, while other Republicans have demanded that the reauthorization be tied to the passage of conservative lawmakers’ cornerstone election integrity bill, the SAVE America Act.
“I’m a NO on FISA as it stands. I’m a NO on the rule for FISA to boot,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said in a March 17 post on X, adding that she would not support related legislation unless the Senate passes the SAVE America Act.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) posted on X on the same day seeking to link the surveillance measure to election-related legislation, saying that “the House MUST ATTACH SAVE AMERICA ACT to FISA.”
GOP REBELS FORCE JOHNSON TO POSTPONE VOTE ON GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE LAW
The cross-pressure between both parties could leave Johnson with little room for error in a closely divided House, where leadership may ultimately need Democratic votes to keep the warrantless surveillance reauthorization alive.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Boebert and Luna for comment.
