A U.S. House procedural vote on renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) may have been torpedoed by 19 Republican lawmakers on Wednesday but Congressman Thomas Massie warns that it’s too soon to celebrate.
🧵 Many people have been misled today.
There was not a vote on the FISA bill.
There was a vote on a resolution that would have allowed FISA, as well as 6 amendments to it, including a warrant requirement amendment, and three other pieces of legislation to come to the floor.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 11, 2024
Massie noted that on partisan procedural votes like this, it’s typically the Democrats who vote no while Republicans vote yes. The Kentucky Congressman explained that many of the Republicans who voted in favor of the resolution were anxious to get a recorded vote on warrants.
Massie said it remains to be seen whether the 19 Republicans who voted against the resolution did the best thing or not.
Tactically, whether the 19 did the best thing or not is TBD.
https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1778270346212229557?
Massie explained that the differing tactics employed by himself, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and other defenders of the Constitution required that they part ways with the 19 Republicans who voted against the measure to temporarily halt its progress.
He went on to describe four different ways the FISA renewal battle may yet play out in Congress.
Now that the rules resolution for the bill + amendments has failed, the swamp could:
1) suspend the rules to pass a worse FISA
2) make concessions and improve the rules for the bill
3) say they don’t need a new bill to keep FISA going, or
4) let the senate move first on FISA
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 11, 2024
Section 702 of the FISA is set to expire on April 19.