By David Morgan and Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) – The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a short-term extension of foreign surveillance powers sought by President Donald Trump, deepening a political standoff over his selection of an inexperienced loyalist to serve as the top U.S. spy chief.
With surveillance authority due to expire after midnight on Friday, the House voted 218 to 198 to reject a measure that would have extended the spying powers until July 2. Nineteen Republicans joined most Democrats to oppose the measure. Seven Democrats voted for the extension.
Senate Republicans and Democrats later sought unanimous consent for rival partisan measures to extend the law, only to be blocked by objections from the other side. Similar partisan efforts also failed in the Senate on Wednesday.
Republican leaders had sought to extend the program for three weeks to give Trump time to find a permanent replacement for mortgage regulator Bill Pulte, whom Trump picked to serve as acting head of the country’s sprawling spy bureaucracy. Trump called for the short-term extension on Wednesday.
The appointment was met with outrage from Democrats and some Republicans over Pulte’s lack of experience, and Democrats have vowed to shun efforts to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Some Republicans have also rejected an extension, saying the law lacks protections for U.S. citizens, including warrant requirements.
“It is shameful and it is very, very dangerous,” an angry House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the failed House vote, which he blamed entirely on Democrats. “We did everything in our power to try to ensure that this statute does not expire,” the Louisiana Republican added.
Johnson rejected a suggestion that Trump could replace Pulte with a more experienced candidate to break the deadlock and gain support for a FISA extension from Democrats, saying Pulte’s appointment would last only for a short time.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York shot back: “If there’s no reason to pull Bill Pulte, according to Speaker Johnson, because he only will be there for a short period of time, that’s the reason to pull Bill Pulte.”
Democrats contend that Trump picked Pulte, a federal mortgage regulator, because of his willingness to use confidential data to push mortgage fraud probes of the president’s perceived enemies.
Pulte is due to replace outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on June 19 and remain until a permanent replacement can be found.
U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Democrats worked with Republican leaders and administration officials on options that included replacing Pulte as acting director with Senate-confirmed intelligence officials or extending the date of Gabbard’s departure.
“We’ve all been on the same page,” Warner told reporters. Trump rejected the options, he said.
The House and Senate were due to leave Washington later on Thursday, raising the odds that U.S. intelligence agencies will lose legal authority to collect emails, texts and cellphone data of foreigners believed to be located outside the United States without individual judicial warrants.
FISA advocates in Congress have warned that the loss of legal authority could jeopardize U.S. national security at a time when the U.S. is at war with Iran and co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico.
“This is, on its face, an irresponsible position that makes America and Americans less safe,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the latest failed efforts to extend the law in his chamber.
“The intelligence derived from the 702 program is something that has saved American lives in theaters of conflict, preventing terrorist attacks, preventing drug runners from getting drugs into this country,” the South Dakota Republican said.
Experts say federal authorities may still be able to query Americans’ data under Section 702, even if the authority expires, because the program operates under yearlong certifications last renewed in March.
Some lawmakers have said telecommunications companies may be reluctant to provide information without clear reauthorization. But experts at the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice say those companies would still face heavy federal fines for failure to comply with lawful requests.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Jonathan Landay; additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)