Free Republic

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yanked a vote scheduled for Wednesday night on a bill reauthorizing lapsed surveillance programs after opposition from Republicans and progressives made it unclear if it could pass. “Members are advised that votes are no longer expected in the House tonight,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) office announced shortly after 9:30 p.m. A Democratic aide confirmed that there would be “no further votes” in the House on Wednesday. The decision to pull the vote comes after House Democratic leadership vowed on Wednesday to give the legislation a vote and worked furiously behind the scenes to...

A bill to reauthorize three expired surveillance programs is in jeopardy, with President Trump urging Republicans to oppose it and growing concerns from progressives on a key amendment. House Democratic leaders say they still intend to vote on the measure this week, but it’s suddenly unclear if it can muster the 218 votes needed to clear the chamber — despite an earlier version of the bill winning 278 votes in March. Despite the limbo status, Democratic leadership is signaling they will move forward, setting up a showdown on the House floor over the fate of the bill. An update from...

The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it opposes House-proposed changes to surveillance reform legislation and will urge President Trump to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. The statement, from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, is the latest setback for the legislation, which is currently scheduled to get a vote on the House floor on Wednesday, after Trump on Tuesday night urged GOP opposition to vote against it. The veto threat from the Justice Department is a marked shift from March, when Attorney General William Barr helped negotiate the initial version of the bill with House leadership. The...

While most of America’s political attention was enthralled with President Donald Trump’s scornful rebuke of former BFF Steve Bannon, House Republican leaders dropped a pretty heavy bomb in the war on freedom with the scheduling of a hearing and possible vote on a new FISA bill. The House Rules Committee is going to meet this week on the new FISA rules, which were slipped into a bill it has absolutely nothing to do with. It’s pretty smart of House leadership to sneak the announcement out on a late Friday afternoon, but mass surveillance watchdogs still raised awareness on what was...