WASHINGTON — Utah's four Republican representatives were split over a vote on Friday to reauthorize and reform a key U.S. surveillance tool after what Rep. John Curtis called a "gnarly" debate between House colleagues. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act outlines how U.S. officials can gather foreign intelligence. Congress has been focused on Section 702, which gives the government power to surveil electronic communications of noncitizens abroad without warrants.

The GOP-led House voted on Friday to pass a bill that would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) ahead of its expiration deadline next week, but the legislation has one final hurdle to pass before going to the Senate. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), one of the members demanding a warrant requirement, objected to the final passage and sought a vote on a motion to reconsider. Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) moved to table it, but a recorded vote was postponed. The remaining vote is expected...

The House voted 273 to 147 Friday in favor of reauthorizing the surveillance bill that has been exploited by the FBI hundreds of thousands of times to spy on American citizens. Only 59 Republicans reportedly voted against renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The bill is now headed to the Senate, where it will likely be passed before the April 19 deadline, to the great satisfaction of its champions in the Biden administration, members of the the House Intelligence Committee, and Attorney General Merrick Garland. The bill...

The GOP-led House is positioned to have another go at reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a spy tool set to sunset next week that proponents say is crucial to protecting national security. A revised bill, which shrinks the extension window from five to two years and implements some reforms, passed through the Rules Committee on Thursday evening. Votes on the floor are expected to begin in the morning on Friday. The Hill reported there is room to consider an amendment that would add a warrant...

An earlier draft of the bill was rejected by 19 Republicans who felt it didn’t go far enough to reform the system and protect civil liberties. The House Rules Committee on April 11 advanced a modified version of a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The rule, which passed the committee in an 8–4 party-line vote, will now be teed up for a vote on the House floor. The FISA legislation included in the rule is a modified version of Rep. Laurel Lee’s (R-Fla.)...

The House Rules Committee advanced a bill to reauthorize the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance authority late Thursday night, sending the measure to the floor one day after a band of Republicans blocked consideration of a previous version of the legislation. The panel voted 8-4 to adopt the rule — which governs debate on legislation — for a measure that would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire on April 19. The program allows for the warrantless surveillance of foreigners located abroad, a process...

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday will warn of an "elevated threat" to U.S. public safety and national security while advocating for an increased budget.

"Looking back over my career in law enforcement, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once," Wray will say to the House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Thursday afternoon. "But that is the case as I sit here today. This is not a point when we can let up."