House

GOP rebels block leaders’ last-minute spy powers deal in dramatic late-night vote

Comments:

by Emily Brooks and Rebecca Beitsch - 04/17/26 1:43 AM ET

Comments:

Link copied

by Emily Brooks and Rebecca Beitsch - 04/17/26 1:43 AM ET

Comments:

Link copied

NOW PLAYING

House Republican rebels early Friday morning dramatically blocked a last-minute, late-night deal from GOP leaders to extend the nation’s spy powers for five years while adding some additional reforms and language intended to woo the holdouts.

In a 200-220 vote at about 1:15 a.m. Friday morning, 12 Republicans voted with almost all Democrats against accepting the deal, text of which was revealed just hours before the vote, after two days of meetings and delays.

Republican opposition to the amendment came not only from right-wing members who pushed for more substantial reforms and who had spent hours negotiating the package with leadership, but also from some House Intelligence Committee members who had pushed for a straight reauthorization of the program.

A procedural vote to advance a clean, 18-month reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) racked up enough votes to fail moments later, but GOP leaders held the vote open.

If the rule fails, the next step for the House to reauthorize the program was not immediately clear. Members had previously pitched leaders on a clean two-month extension as a fallback option.

Developing.

Add as preferred source on Google