Fifty-four House lawmakers, Democrat and Republican, conservative and progressive, called on House Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday not to extend a controversial deep state surveillance law in a defense bill.
Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), two skeptics of government surveillance, spearheaded the letter, which comes weeks before the year-end deadline of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Section 702 is a law that allows intelligence agencies to collect communications of targeted foreigners. It also may lead to targeted surveillance of Americans’ private communications, which privacy advocates consider a run around the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for a warrant to search Americans’ communications. The law will expire at the end of 2023.
The 54 House lawmakers said in no uncertain terms that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) should not pursue a reauthorization of Section 702, temporary or otherwise, in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
“If Section 702 is to be…
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