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Following Trump, far-right House members derail surveillance bill
Insights from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN
The News
A group of far-right Republican House members rebelled against GOP leadership and blocked the extension of a controversial surveillance law Wednesday in a further blow to embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Backed by former President Donald Trump, 19 conservative House members opposed the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a post-9/11 law that national security officials say is critical to combating terrorism.
The opposing bloc wants the House to reshape the legislation — which allows U.S. intelligence services to gather data on the communications of non-Americans overseas — to ensure U.S. citizens don’t get swept up in government efforts to surveil malicious foreign actors.
SIGNALS
Revolt shows Trump’s enduring grip on House GOP
Trump had urged lawmakers to kill the bill, posting Wednesday on Truth Social that FISA was “ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!” and instructing members to “KILL FISA.” Far-right defectors quickly fell in line, an indication of Trump’s enduring power over the House GOP.
When Trump flexed his power to stall immigration legislation earlier this year, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he hoped “we don’t live in a world today in which one person inside the Republican Party holds so much power” that they could stop a bipartisan bill.
Yet another defeat puts Johnson’s speakership in jeopardy
FISA’s failure marks another embarrassing defeat for Johnson; Republicans have now sunk rule votes before legislation makes it to the floor four times under his leadership. “Such defections were once considered unthinkable,” The New York Times reported, but have become increasingly common as far-right House members rebel against their party. “It’s never helpful for the majority party to take down its own rules,” Johnson said after the vote.
Last month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion for Johnson to vacate the speakership. It’s still hanging over his head, and Greene said this week that “If he passes that $60 billion [aid bill] to Ukraine, and then follows up with FISA reauthorization, you’re going to see a lot more Republicans than just me coming out saying his speakership is over with.”
Trump key to saving Johnson’s speakership
Luckily for Johnson, most of Trump world doesn’t want the chaos of a motion to vacate him from the speakership, and the former president does not appear likely to support Greene’s effort to push him out. Sources close to Johnson and Trump told CNN that “allies of the Speaker have asked the former president to publicly support Johnson, or at least stay out of the back-and-forth altogether.”
Johnson plans to travel to Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, on Friday for a joint news conference with the former president about “election integrity,” an apparent move to stay in Trump’s good graces.
