Senate Blocks Plan to Extend Spying Powers to an Administration Determined to Weaponize Them Against Americans

WASHINGTON — Early Friday morning, the Senate blocked a motion to begin debate on extending the nation’s surveillance authorities under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Trump administration is pressuring lawmakers to reinstate Section 702 powers without limiting its far-reaching authorizations to spy on people across the United States.

Every Senate Democrat except for Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against the motion to proceed with considering the legislative vehicle for extending these powers. Six Republicans joined Democrats in voting against this motion. 

According to press reports, many lawmakers expressed concerns about President Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence. There is mounting evidence that the Trump administration will continue to misuse Section 702 under Pulte, who has spearheaded efforts to investigate and prosecute Trump’s political adversaries. In his new position, Pulte has the power to oversee the government’s use of this far-reaching spying authority and to exploit intelligence agencies’ warrantless access to Americans’ communications.

For years, civil-rights and civil-liberties advocates in Congress and across the country have fought for popular, bipartisan reforms, including a requirement that the government get a warrant before searching the Section 702 database for information on people in the United States. Over the past year and a half, the Trump administration has gutted oversight mechanisms dedicated to preventing abuses of Section 702. 

Free Press Action Advocacy Director Jenna Ruddock said:

“This administration could not be more blatant about its intent to weaponize this surveillance apparatus to criminalize speech and other First Amendment-protected activities that challenge the Trump agenda. Trump, Stephen Miller and other members of the administration want to abuse federal law-enforcement and intelligence resources to target so-called domestic ‘left-wing extremists’ — defining this group to include anyone who simply disagrees with the president’s politics. Bill Pulte’s appointment as acting director of national intelligence is only the latest evidence of this intent.

“It bears repeating again and again: No administration should have unchecked spying powers. But given this threatening and unconstitutional scenario, the case for reforming Section 702 has never been more urgent. Members of Congress must not extend a warrantless-surveillance authority for this administration to wield with no meaningful restraints or oversight. It’s time to pass popular, bipartisan reforms that are already on the table. The Senate did exactly the right thing by halting this bill in its tracks, for now. We’re calling on lawmakers to continue protecting their constituents from a Trump administration determined to spy on all of us to quash political dissent.”