Republican speaker, intel chiefs make new push to renew surveillance law
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By Raphael Satter
Published on March 19, 2026.
U.S. House Republican leader Mike Johnson and the Trump administration's spy chiefs are pushing for a quick and clean renewal of the surveillance powers that allow law enforcement to mine foreign intelligence for information about Americans without judicial authorization. Johnson argues that past reforms to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are working just as planned, leading to a straightforward extension of the spy power. However, critics argue that the changes made in 2024 largely codified existing practices and do nothing to address the issue of warrantless surveillance. Some past skeptics of the law have been converted, with Florida Republican Paulina Luna suggesting that renewal should be attached to the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
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