The House on Wednesday shelved plans to hold floor votes this week on a bill to reauthorize a powerful surveillance authority, amid sharp divisions over how far Congress should go in providing privacy protections.
The move came shortly after a House Rules Committee meeting on the bill to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which revealed there was no clear agreement on a rule to allow floor consideration of amendments.
“In order to allow Congress more time to reach consensus on how best to reform FISA and Section 702 while maintaining the integrity of our critical national security programs, the House will consider the reform and reauthorization bill at a later date,” Raj Shah, a spokesman for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a social media post.
