Speaker Johnson Angers Republicans With Plan to Extend FISA Via Defense Bill

House Speaker Mike Johnson handily won the support of his caucus in late October after weeks of turmoil following the historic ouster of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who angered the party’s most conservative faction over his inability to deliver on certain promises.

Now, it seems, Johnson (R-La.) could be in danger of losing his seat as well.

Johnson had planned to tuck a short-term extension of a powerful federal government surveillance tool into the annual must-pass defense spending bill, but, the Washington Examiner noted on Friday, “members of the House Freedom Caucus announced their opposition to” the move.

“After changing his stance and reversing course multiple times in the past week on how he plans to ensure section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act does not expire at the end of the year, Johnson settled on including a clean short-term extension of the tool until April 19, 2024, in the National Defense Authorization Act, something he said he would not do just days prior,” the report continued.

But the centrist Republicans and…