Privacy Advocates celebrated Friday after a Republican-led effort to extend warrantless spying powers failed to advance in US Senate in the early hours of the morning, at seven GOP lawmakers joining every Democrat except the senator. John Fetterman in opposition.
of failed vote was another setback for supporters of renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the federal government to monitor the electronic communications of non-citizens who are outside the US. The authority is set to expire next Friday.
Privacy advocates have long called for reforms to the law, noting that US intelligence agencies have abused her over and over again to spy on the Americans.
Sean Vitka, executive director of Demand Progress, called Friday’s vote a “vital loss for privacy opponents,” arguing that it “shows there is no way forward for FISA without a warrant requirement.”
“The clear majority of Americans across the country and in Congress do not want the government bypassing the courts to collect our private, personal data,” Vitka said. “If The White House and congressional leadership want to renew FISA, they should stop ignoring this obvious fact and allow votes on real privacy reforms.”
Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Freedom and Homeland Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, CALLED vote “a temporary victory” but warned that some senators “who would have voted to advance the bill changed their vote” because of President Donald Trump’s selection of loyalist Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence — a choice that drew bipartisan response.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who supports expanding Section 702’s spying powers, voted against advancing the FISA legislation on Friday after calling Pulte an “extremely bad choice” who is “grossly unqualified.”
Goitein noted that Pulte, who currently heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), is currently “under inquiry by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office for abusing his position and his access to government records to bring about dubious mortgage fraud charges against Trump’s perceived political enemies.”
“If Pulte can do this with the limited access to information on Americans he has as head of (FHFA), imagine what he can do with all the authorities and capabilities of the intelligence community — including, of course, Section 702,” she added. “What wouldn’t make sense? Handing Section 702 to whoever Trump might appoint instead of Pulte without making sure they can’t use it as a tool for domestic spying.”
