House extends a controversial spy tool, but Senate path is unclear ahead of deadline

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La, stands behind the rostrum on the House floor before an address by King Charles III at the U.S. Capitol on April 28, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/ North America hide caption toggle caption Chip Somodevilla/ North America The House of Representatives voted to extend a key surveillance program for three years, by a vote of 235 to 191. The measure now heads to the Senate ahead of a Thursday night deadline, where it faces a difficult path to final passage. The vote comes after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., struggled for weeks to win over privacy-minded Republicans. GOP defections tanked five-year and 18-month extensions earlier in the month. Forty-two Democrats supported the bill and 22 Republicans opposed it. The program, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), allows U.S. intelligence agencies to intercept the electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside of the United States. Some of the nearly 350,000 targets whose communications are collected under FISA 702 authority each year are in touch with Americans. Their calls, texts and emails can also end up in the trove of information available to the federal government for review. …