Congress faces a 10-day scramble before the statutory expiration of a powerful surveillance authority next week, after a collapse on the House floor laid bare the opposition to renewing the tool without new privacy safeguards.
The early-morning votes Friday, a piercing setback for the Trump administration and House leadership, illustrated that Republicans did not have enough support to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act with no changes, something known as a clean reauthorization.
In the days since, GOP leadership and privacy advocates have not publicly identified a viable compromise as the future of an essential national security tool hangs in the balance. Under a stopgap measure, the new statutory expiration date is April 30.
