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 decision to do another short-term extension comes as the surveillance power is set to expire Thursday night. 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.
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