Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

Conservatives threaten to sink FISA renewal as House Republicans battle over federal surveillance tool

Conservatives threaten to sink FISA renewal as House Republicans battle over federal surveillance tool

Conservative privacy hawks in the House of Representatives are threatening to tank a chamber-wide vote on renewing a key government surveillance tool known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The fight to renew the program for five years is a major test for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his razor-thin majority, particularly as he faces heat from his right flank for apparently showing opposition to an amendment for additional warrant requirements for collection of U.S. citizens’ data – something the intelligence community and its congressional allies have also opposed. “I disagree with that. It’s going to jeopardize the rule and the bill,” warned Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., when asked about Johnson being against the warrant amendment. Section 702 allows the federal government to surveil non-Americans on foreign soil with suspected terror links without a warrant, even if the person on the other side of their communications is an American. PUBLIC TRUST IN FBI HAS REACHED ‘THE RED ZONE,’ US INCHING CLOSER TO ‘MAYHEM, CHAOS, ANARCHY:’ WSJ COLUMNIST The House is expected to potentially advance a bill to renew it on Wednesday afternoon via a traditionally sleepy procedural hurdle known as a rule vote which, if passed, allows for debate before an eventual vote on the bill itself.  A rule vote would typically fall along party lines, with even lawmakers opposed to the bill voting in favor of allowing it to proceed if it was introduced by their own side. However, rule votes have been weaponized multiple times in this Congress, particularly by members of Johnson’s right flank, to express opposition to the leadership’s handling of an issue. Multiple sources told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Johnson said he was against additional warrant requirements for collecting data of American citizens that were sought by privacy hawks – just as the House is set to consider a Judiciary Committee-backed amendment on the issue. VEHICLE RAMS INTO GATE AT FBI OFFICE IN ATLANTA, DRIVER ARRESTED “He said he was going to come out publicly against it,” a GOP lawmaker said when asked about his conversations with Johnson about the amendment. “That would effectively kill 702, if that passed.” On the other side of the argument, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., told Fox News Digital, “It is my understanding that he is against [the amendment.]” “I think he’s mistaken, I think he’s wrong,” Good said. He would not say whether he’d vote for the rule on Wednesday, saying instead, “I think everything is on the table to protect Americans’ constitutional liberties.” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who also said she was against the FISA bill, was blunt in her assessment of the bill’s fate. “The rule is going to be tanked. It sounds like only two votes are needed, as I understand it.” Additionally, at least one Republican has signaled they would block the bill from getting a vote so far. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said on his podcast Tuesday that he plans to oppose the rule because the final bill did not include a separate amendment on warrants for the purchase of Americans’ data from third-party brokers. House GOP leaders have signaled that the amendment would get its own vote as a stand-alone bill sometime later. FBI DIRECTOR SAYS CHINESE HACKERS ARE ‘POISED TO ATTACK’ AS INFILTRATIONS REACH ‘FEVER PITCH’ National security hawks and members of the intelligence community have called it a critical tool for preventing another 9/11-style attack. However, critics, including both conservatives and progressives, have been seeking to limit its scope after reported instances of abuse to collect data on Americans. The Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, a compromise bill between the House Judiciary Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is aimed at curbing instances of abuse by instituting safeguards on accessing Section 702-collected data, particularly if it involves a U.S. citizen. However, conservatives who have criticized Section 702 as overbroad have argued the compromise bill does not do enough to rein in the potential for exploitation of Americans’ private communications. If it passes the Wednesday rule vote, the final vote will be preceded by one on the amendment, backed by the Judiciary Committee, to ban warrantless searches of U.S. citizens before voting on the final bill – the amendment Johnson is said to oppose. The fight over Section 702’s renewal has been among the most bitter that House Republicans have had to contend with. The current process is House GOP leaders’ third attempt at the tool’s renewal before the April 19 deadline. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who is threatening to potentially force a vote on ousting Johnson from power, has criticized how he has handled FISA reform, among other issues like Ukraine and government spending. “It’s shocking. You know, if he calls himself a conservative, I don’t know how he can be against stronger warrant mandates for the FISA reauthorization,” Greene told Fox News Digital, adding that she has not made a decision on how she would vote on the rule. Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment on GOP hardliners’ pushback and his stance on the warrant amendment, but did not immediately hear back. With the current makeup of the House, Johnson can only afford to lose at most two Republican votes – at full attendance – to still pass a bill along party lines.

SCOOP: Sen. Ted Cruz hauls in nearly $10 million in past three months as he battles for re-election in Texas

SCOOP: Sen. Ted Cruz hauls in nearly million in past three months as he battles for re-election in Texas

FIRST ON FOX Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas upped his fundraising game the past three months as he faces a bruising re-election race this year for a third six-year term in the Senate. The conservative firebrand lawmaker brought in over $9.7 million during the January-March first quarter of 2024 fundraising, according to figures shared first with Fox News on Wednesday. Cruz’s haul from his three fundraising committees is nearly double the $5.5 million he brought in the previous three months. The senator raised $1.8 million, $4.4 million, and $5.4 million during the first, second and third quarters of last year. The money Cruz brought in the past three months is also over $2.7 million more than he raised during the first two quarters of 2018, when he was last up for re-election. FIRST ON FOX: MCCONNELL-ALIGNED GROUPS SET NEW FUNDRAISING RECORD The senator’s political team says as of the end of March, the senator had $15.1 million cash-on-hand from his three fundraising committees. They note that figure includes the amounts he has fundraised into the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) – which is the campaign arm of the Senate GOP – and the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) that are dedicated to his race.   The cash-on-hand total is more than double what was in Cruz’s coffers at the end of 2023. According to his team, Cruz the past three months had over 179,000 unique contributions with an average contribution of $35.73, and that he’s received contributions from all 254 Texas counties and from supporters in all 50 states. Cruz spokesperson Nick Maddux told Fox News that the senator “is off to a very strong start this year as the momentum to get him across the finish line in November continues to increase across the entire Lone Star State.  “His quarter-one fundraising numbers reflect Texans’ urgency for victory as Democrats threaten to strip away our common-sense way of life.,” Maddux argued. “Senator Cruz will continue to pound the pavement day in and day out, meeting and talking to Texans in every corner of the state to keep Texas, Texas, and ensure that we remain the nation’s bastion of liberty.” SIX KEY SENATE SEATS THAT COULD FLIP IN NOVEMBER  Rep. Colin Allred, Cruz’s Democratic challenger, has yet to announce his first quarter fundraising figures.  Allred, a former professional football player in the NFL and a three-term congressman representing a suburban Dallas district, brought in $4.8 million in the fourth quarter of last year. Cruz, who narrowly defeated then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke in a hard-fought 2018 Senate battle, touted in a Fox News Digital interview last year that after former President Trump, “there is no Republican in the country that Democrats hate more than me.” The senator was significantly outraised by O’Rourke in a high profile race which grabbed plenty of national attention. WHERE THE PRESIDENTIAL AND SENATE SHOWDOWNS STAND IN TEXAS In an interview last week on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Cruz argued that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the chamber, “has been explicit. He’s coming after Texas. I am his number on target in the entire country.” Cruz argued that the Democrats “are going to spend more than $100 million this year… they’re flooding millions of dollars into Texas.” But he touted that his campaign is “supported by millions of Americans, millions of conservatives all across the country that go to our website.” Democrats hold a slim 51-49 majority in the chamber, which includes three independent senators who caucus with the Democratic conference. That means Republicans need a net gain of either one or two seats to win back the majority – depending on which party controls the White House after this year’s presidential election. The math and the map favor the GOP in 2024. Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. Three of those seats are in red states that Trump carried in 2020 – West Virginia, Montana and Ohio. Additionally, Democrats are defending an open seat in West Virginia after Sen. Joe Manchin announced late last year that he would not seek re-election. Five other blue-held seats are in key swing states narrowly carried by President Biden in 2020 – Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  In blue-state Maryland, Senate Republicans scored a recruiting success with popular former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan. Texas and Florida, where incumbent Sen. Rick Scott is seeking re-election, appear to be the only competitive GOP-held seats up for grabs this November. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Arizona governor rips GOP hypocrisy after state Supreme Court upholds abortion ban

Arizona governor rips GOP hypocrisy after state Supreme Court upholds abortion ban

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D) on Tuesday called out Republican lawmakers who retreated from a state Supreme Court ruling that revived a 160-year-old, pre-statehood law that criminalizes abortion.  Hobbs told CNN host Anderson Cooper that Arizonans are “reeling” from the decision, which reinstated a near-total abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. She called the decision “very harmful” and noted that she had urged lawmakers to repeal the “archaic ban” when she first assumed office.  “I renewed that call at the beginning of this legislative session,” Hobbs said. “The fact is that some of the Republicans right now who are saying that this decision went too far are the same politicians who celebrated the Dobbs decision, which paved the way for this court ruling today.  ARIZONA SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS NEAR-TOTAL ABORTION BAN “And the speaker of the House and the Senate president both weighed in, in this case, with an amicus brief, urging the court to do exactly what it did today,” she added. The Arizona Supreme Court delivered a 4-2 ruling Tuesday that said the 1864 law — passed when Arizona was a territory and codified in 1913 when it became a state — is “now enforceable” after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.  USA TODAY REPORTEDLY CHANGES HEADLINE ON TRUMP’S ABORTION STANCE AFTER BIDEN-HARRIS CAMPAIGN COMPLAIN The state court rejected arguments that a 15-week abortion ban passed in 2022 should be enforced instead, finding that the more recent law “does not create a right to, or otherwise provide independent statutory authority for, an abortion that repeals or restricts” the 1913 law. The Civil War-era law makes it a felony for anyone who “provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or procures such woman to take any medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless it is necessary to save her life,” potentially carrying a prison sentence between 2 and 5 years. PENCE BLASTS TRUMP’S ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’ ANNOUNCEMENT ON KEY ISSUE FOR CHRISTIAN VOTERS Hobbs on Tuesday called on the state legislature “to do the right thing now and repeal this 1864 ban and protect access to reproductive care.”  Cooper asked the governor about an executive order she signed last year that restricts county attorneys from prosecuting women and doctors for receiving and performing abortions.  “This ban, this extreme ban, is going to prevent people from getting care that they need,” Hobbs said. Fox News Digital’s Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.