Senate to seek short-term punt for key surveillance power

The Senate is preparing a weekslong punt for an expiring spy law after House Republicans linked a longer-term extension to a digital currency ban that is DOA across the Capitol.

“We’re probably going to end up doing a short-term,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday, adding that leadership is currently “running the traps” on a short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Thune said that punt would last about 45 days, putting the new deadline in mid-June.

The 45-day extension doesn't yet have a clear path to getting through the Senate. Thune would need buy-in from all 100 senators to schedule a vote before Thursday night's deadline, when FISA expires.

Sen. Ron Wyden is expected to object to setting up a vote on a 45-day extension, according to an aide. Instead, he will offer a three-week extension, as well as try to declassify the surveillance court's annual 702 opinion, which is already required to be made public.

The House passed a three-year extension of the surveillance law Wednesday, but Republicans are attaching a permanent ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a digital currency.

Thune publicly warned House Republicans against the step Tuesday, calling the combination a “bad idea” that would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

Thune said that Speaker Mike Johnson, who he met with Wednesday, is aware of the plan to pass a short-term FISA extension. He added that he told the Louisiana Republican that the Senate “can't move a bill” that has the currency ban attached.

The House would also need to approve any short-term extension before midnight Thursday to avoid any lapse in the surveillance power, which allows intelligence agencies to monitor foreigners abroad but also sweeps up communications involving Americans — alarming civil libertarians.