Congress passed a 45-day clean extension of Section 702 of FISA on Thursday, averting a midnight expiration of the government's warrantless surveillance authority. The House vote was 261-111, and the bill now heads to the president for signature.
The short-term patch follows the House's Wednesday passage of a three-year renewal that included a ban on a central bank digital currency, added to win over conservative holdouts. But that provision drew bipartisan opposition in the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune called it a "poison pill," forcing the pivot to a shorter fix.
The underlying Section 702 program is a key national security tool, and its potential lapse had raised alarms. Lawmakers had previously passed a short-term extension earlier this month after House Republicans blocked five-year and 18-month renewals, but that patch did not provide enough time for a long-term deal.
A group of lawmakers continues to insist on attaching warrant requirements to any renewal, despite leadership's resistance. The 45-day window sets up another contentious fight in June, with the same conflicting demands from House conservatives and Senate critics likely to resurface.
The compromise averts an immediate crisis but punts a politically charged debate. Critics argue the CBDC ban was a distracting add-on, while surveillance reform advocates warn that without warrant requirements, privacy concerns remain unaddressed.