House Advances Floor Vote on 18-Month Extension of FISA Section 702 Surveillance Authority

# House GOP Clears Floor Vote on 18-Month Extension of FISA Section 702 GOP leaders in the House cleared the way for a floor vote on an 18-month clean extension of Section 702 of FISA last night. Members of the House Rules Committee allowed the clean extension to pass through the committee.

Section 702 of FISA allows the government to obtain communications of foreign surveillance targets without a traditional warrant. The government collects Americans' communications as part of Section 702 surveillance.

The government routinely searches through Section 702 data to find Americans' phone calls, text messages, and emails, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Section 702 of FISA will expire on the coming Monday if Congress does not renew it. Republican leaders in Congress support a clean Section 702 extension without changes.

Some Republican members of Congress demand a warrant requirement before the government accesses Americans' data for Section 702 reauthorization. Republicans hold razor-thin margins in the House.

Democrats voted to extend Section 702 in 2024 and helped kill amendments that added a warrant requirement to Section 702 in 2024, according to The Hill. On the other hand, Democrats who voted to extend Section 702 in 2024, and helped kill amendments that added a warrant requirement to the law, are now opposing reauthorization. President Trump urged lawmakers to "KILL FISA" in 2024.

Proposals Officials floated the idea of an additional tax on second homes worth over $5 million to help plug New York City's budget gap.

New York City is facing a $5.4 billion budget gap. A second home tax would close only about 10 percent of New York City's budget gap under estimated revenue haul. The city's mayor wants to close New York City's budget gap with additional taxes on wealthy individuals and large corporations.