The House once again stumbled to get a floor vote on legislation that would reauthorize a powerful surveillance authority, as a group of Republicans aired concerns that it didn’t do enough to protect the privacy of Americans.
Republican leadership pushed this week to pass a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire April 19.
But the House, on a 193-228 vote, Wednesday rejected a rule that would have set up the terms of floor consideration of the bill, adding more uncertainty into the reauthorization process for a program the intelligence community has called essential for national security.
