US Congress passes short-term renewal of Fisa warrantless spying powers

The US Congress has passed a 45-day extension of a law that grants US intelligence agencies warrantless spying powers. Bitter infighting over section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in the Republican wing of Congress has repeatedly tanked conservative leaders’ plans to renew the controversial surveillance law for multiple years. The deadlock continued on Thursday, as the Republican House speaker Mike Johnson refused to include key reforms pushed by hardliners in his party and progressive Democrats. In remarks before a final vote in the House, lawmakers opposed to a long-term extension of section 702 again called on Johnson to consider their concerns about how the surveillance program is abused to spy on Americans. “We’re willing to give you 45 more days for us to negotiate this thing if the Speaker will actually sit down with us,” said US congressman Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, who has rallied against an extension of the program with no changes. “We can make this happen if we’re willing to get rid of all the chaos and the pandemonium we’ve seen over the last several days and simply sit down and have a meaningful conversation and write the legislation.” Hardline Republicans across the aisle who took issue with section 702 welcomed Raskin’s remarks as they too expressed their fears about how the program surveils Americans’ communications. …