Post #2938572

2026-04-21 15:51 UTC

Punchbowl News on the state play as of this morning: "Senators are open — but hardly eager — to lead the way on reauthorizing FISA Section 702 following House Republicans’ stunning failure last week. They’re resigned that anything to re-up the program must ultimately now pass muster with a bloc of hardline House conservatives determined to make significant changes to the program, which expires on April 30. “Obviously, the bottleneck here is the House,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said. “What can pass there that is workable and would be supported in the Senate?”" https://punchbowl.news/article/defense/fisa-slog/ The fake deadline is April 30. It's a fake deadline because the FISA Court has already re-authorized the programs for the next year, so there isn't any short-term consequence if it lapses temporarily. But surveillance hawks will (as usual) try to use the false urgency to put through a "compromise" that broadens surveillance powers. #FISA #surveillance #privacy

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@thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange 2026-04-21 15:52

And here's a decent article from Politico yesterday ... "Some House Republicans hope they’re in the final stages of massaging a multi-year extension that would incorporate some minor changes intended to pacify privacy hawks. Others are already predicting they’ll face the same internal schisms come April 30, when the current short-term extension runs out.... It’s gotten to the point where Senate Republicans, who have until now largely taken a back seat on FISA, are warning they are prepared to grab the wheel if the House can’t figure it out. “We’ve just got to have optionality here,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Friday of the path forward, shortly after clearing the House-passed, 10-day emergency Section 702 extension to avert a looming expiration. “I don’t know what the House is going to be able to do, and so we’ll be preparing accordingly.”" Yeah seems like a mistake to rely on the House to sort For many Republicans, the high-drama meltdown in the House was entirely predictable and has been months in the making, after Trump demanded a clean extension of the surveillance law despite well-documented skepticism within his own party. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/20/fisa-extension-republicans-trump-00879944

Open ##2938573