Senate push to reauthorize nation’s spy powers stumbles over controversial Trump decision

The Senate failed to move one step closer to extending the nation’s spy powers amid brewing consternation against President Donald Trump's pick to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies. 

Nearly every Senate Democrat and six Senate Republicans banded together to block a procedural hurdle to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in the wee hours of Friday morning. The stumble comes as the deadline to make a move on the spy powers next week rapidly approaches. 

What would have likely been a bipartisan vote was marred by Trump's pick to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies as Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Bill Pulte. 

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued that Congress couldn’t "afford to go dark" by not reauthorizing FISA, and hoped that Senate Democrats could have a change of heart on the matter next week when the upper chamber returns. 

Complicating matters for Thune is that, given Republicans who outright dislike the program, he will need Democrats to reauthorize FISA. 

"We need some help from Democrats, obviously, and I think it's a terrible irresponsible position that they've taken," Thune said. "But we'll find out if that changes."

Pulte currently serves as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and was tapped by Trump earlier this week to fill in for ex-DNI Tulsi Gabbard, who exited the position last month.

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The choice left Republicans scratching their heads, and elicited fury among Democrats. 

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned that Democrats wouldn’t support reauthorizing FISA if Pulte were in charge. 

"I don't see how you get the necessary Democrat votes… that would get them to 60," Warner said.

Lawmakers are concerned because Pulte has no experience in the intelligence field, and in the role of DNI, would be charged with overseeing the country’s 18 intelligence agencies. 

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"I know what he's been doing in the housing sector," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said. "I'm not so familiar with why the president would have selected him."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., charged that Trump’s move to pick Pulte "appears to have been a hastily considered backroom deal based on loyalty to Trump, not the security of our nation."

"The timing of this announcement could not be worse, with just over a week until FISA 702 authorities expire," Schumer said. "This announcement and its timing clearly make passing an extension of FISA much harder." 

Meanwhile, Senate Republican leadership hopes to have their bipartisan bill completed and shipped to the House before the June 12 deadline. 

Pulte’s appointment further complicates a fight over FISA that has, so far, led to Congress punting twice on the issue, particularly over disagreements with the controversial Section 702.

The spy law fight is one of the few horseshoe issues in Congress that blends Democrats and conservatives in a push for stronger privacy protections. Section 702 allows the government to spy on foreign nationals abroad. 

However, nothing in the law prevents it from collecting data on Americans if they happen to be involved in those communications.