(Corrects number of Democrats who voted to extend FISA to seven from five in paragraph 2)
By David Morgan
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 were also expected to try to extend the program on Thursday, after a failed effort 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 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.
The House and Senate were due to leave Washington later on Thursday. The House is scheduled to be out of session next week.
Unless Republican and Democratic lawmakers find a compromise or Trump drops Pulte, 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.
(Reporting by David Morgan; additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
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