DORAL, Fla.—President Donald Trump prefers to pass a “clean” reauthorization of a key federal surveillance law before its expiration deadline next month, Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) said on March 11.
“What we’ve talked about, and what the president has talked about, is he wants a clean reauthorization,” McClain said in response to a question by The Epoch Times.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals’ communications, but data and communications of U.S. citizens may also be targeted.
Critically, Section 702 is set to expire on April 20.
Congress previously reauthorized the statute in April 2024 after a group of 212 Democrats and Republicans voted to amend the law with a requirement for intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant before surveilling Americans’ data.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was the crucial tie-breaking vote to kill the warrant amendment, which was supported by several Republicans, including Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.).
Speaking from the annual House GOP policy retreat in Doral, Florida, on Wednesday, McClain said House Republican leadership “will definitely get FISA done,” but did not offer details on the timeline.
Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, also confirmed that Trump prefers a “clean” reauthorization of FISA without new restrictions.
“There was some incredibly good reforms that we all came together with last time. The president wants to see all that stay in place and move forward on this with a clean reauthorization, and there’s momentum to do it,” he told reporters in Doral.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Shortly before Congress passed the 2024 reauthorization of FISA, Trump urged congressional Republicans to “KILL” the law.
“KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!” said Trump, who weeks prior had become the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
Several Republican Senators criticized the previous reauthorization of FISA without added amendments.
“Tonight the Senate passed the House-passed FISA expansion bill—after rejecting seven different amendments requiring a warrant and otherwise reforming FISA 702,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said in April 2024 shortly after Congress passed the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to reauthorize Section 702.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the 2024 FISA extension “did not go far enough in protecting Americans’ privacy rights from intrusions by the federal government.”
A 2022 report found that U.S. intelligence agencies had used the law to surveil more than 3.3 million Americans without a warrant.
In early 2025, a federal judge ruled that the U.S. government’s use of Section 702 to probe data of people residing in the United States violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Democrats have also come out against allowing intelligence agencies to use Section 702 powers without warrant restrictions.
During a December 2025 congressional hearing, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said: “FISA Section 702 was never meant to apply to American citizens.”
“If law enforcement wants to look at American citizens’ emails, they must get a warrant as the Constitution requires,” Raskin said.
“Administrations of both parties have repeatedly abused this trove of U.S. person data. Recent audits show that [the] FBI has searched the 702 database for candidates for federal office, Black Lives Matter protesters, and federal contractors, among other Americans who ought to be better protected.”
Ryan Morgan, Joseph Lord, Zachary Stieber, and Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.
