US surveillance law to expire for first time after lawmakers reject Trump's controversial pick to lead spy agencies

The US House of Representatives has failed to renew the government's warrantless surveillance law before it is due to expire on Friday, all but guaranteeing that it will lapse for the first time. The law, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) or Section 702, broadly allows intelligence agencies to collect vast amounts of information, including on Americans, to identify foreign hackers, spies, and potential terrorists.

The House voted 218-198 on the bill, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass; 19 Republican lawmakers voted against it. The next vote is scheduled for June 23.

Bipartisan efforts to renew the law stalled after President Trump appointed one of his allies, Bill Pulte, as acting US director of national intelligence. Pulte, who has no intelligence or national security experience, was set to start on June 19. Democrats warned that Pulte's appointment would be a greater risk to national security than allowing the law to expire.

On Thursday, the administration pulled Pulte's nomination and replaced him with Jay Clayton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. However, by the time the news broke, many lawmakers had already left for a week-long break, making any last-minute deal unlikely.

While the law itself expires Friday, the spy programs authorized under FISA were already approved in March by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, allowing them to continue until March 2027. However, phone companies may be unwilling to provide customer call logs without a clear legal mandate. The US government also has other surveillance avenues, such as Executive Order 12333.

Senator Ron Wyden warned that FISA is still being actively used to secretly violate Americans' constitutional rights, citing a secret interpretation of Section 702 that directly affects privacy rights.