Senate Republicans early Friday could not muster enough votes to move forward on a long-term reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, leaving the key surveillance power, which expires next week, in limbo as both chambers leave the Capitol for the weekend.
The Senate voted 47-52 on the motion to proceed to the measure, with a bipartisan cohort voting against the extension. Its opponents have been frustrated by the lack of privacy changes to the program — which allows the U.S. government to collect digital communications of foreigners located outside the country — and by President Donald Trump’s pick of Bill Pulte to be the acting director of national intelligence.
