Speaker Mike Johnson canceled a vote scheduled for Wednesday evening on a clean reauthorization of a key spy power amid a hard-liner rebellion, making it more likely the program could expire in five days — but said the House would try again Thursday.
“I think we will,” he said Wednesday afternoon of whether there would be the votes the next day to adopt a rule to proceed to consideration of the underlying bill. “We’re working through some final details.”
Talks are ongoing among White House officials and House Republican leaders, who want an 18-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and conservative holdouts, who are demanding policy changes such as guardrails on warrantless surveillence.
Some of these opponents returned to the White House Wednesday to talk with people in the administration about possible tweaks to the legislation. That includes allowing votes on amendments regarding use of warrants and preventing third-party data brokers from selling information to the federal government.
House Republican leaders had originally planned to hold a party-line, procedural rule vote Wednesday afternoon that would have paved the way for floor consideration of the clean Section 702 extension, but postponed it to later in the day in hopes of landing a deal.
All sides believe an agreement is still possible, according to six people granted anonymity to share private discussions. An accord, however, remains out of reach, and the people said it was unlikely it could be reached by Wednesday night, prompting leadership to scrap any vote related to the spy authority altogether.
