US Senate votes 65 to 34 to reauthorize Section 702 FISA surveillance program through 2023; bill now goes to Trump to sign
The VergeColin Lecher
Context & Ripple Effects
This vote is the endgame of a week-long sprint: the Senate had already cleared the 60-38 cloture vote on January 17, and final passage at 65-34 sends the bill straight to President Trump, who signed it within days, locking in warrantless surveillance under Section 702 through 2023.
The margin matters because it sets the template for the program's lifecycle — six years later the same chamber would pass another reauthorization extending Section 702 through 2026, again over objections from privacy advocates and with communication service providers warning they might stop cooperating if the authority lapsed.
First-order effects
President Trump's signature keeps US communications providers legally obligated to hand over data under Section 702 without individual warrants through 2023, ending any near-term risk of a cooperation lapse.
Second-order effects
Tech companies and civil-liberties groups that pushed warrant requirements lose their leverage window until the next sunset date, while the government retains uninterrupted access that providers had threatened to cut off during a lapse.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds — a bipartisan majority renewing the program at each expiration rather than restructuring it — Section 702 becomes a recurring five-to-six-year legislative cycle, as confirmed by the 2024 extension, with reform fights compressed into each reauthorization window.
The trend: Section 702 is settling into a periodic bipartisan reauthorization cycle in which broad surveillance continuity repeatedly outweighs warrant-requirement reforms.
“It is a mistake to reauthorize a law that directly violates the Fourth Amendment and further emboldens the government to overstep its authority.” http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ ...
I voted NO on the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I believe in empowering the Intelligence Community with the tools to keep our country safe, but this bill neglects to adequately protect the privacy rights of the American people.
For the #MAGA people out there, the House and Senate just voted to expand the Deep State's unconstitutional mass surveillance program. Trump could protect your 4th Amendment rights and kill it with a veto. Do you trust him to stand up for you here? http://www.justsecurity.org/ ..…
The US should not be in the business of warrantless, dragnet surveillance of American citizens. But Section 702 of FISA allows our gov't to do just that. I voted no on a bill to reauthorize Section 702 without important protections for Ameicans' privacy. https://www.nytimes.com/.…
Dear journos: If you don't mention that under 702 NSA collects data it knows to include domestic comms in your reviews of 702 passage you're failing your readers.
I will vote no on reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The bill as written gives the government far too much power to spy on innocent U.S. citizens.
BREAKING: The Senate just approved (65-34) an appalling bill to extend Section 702—one of the NSA's most powerful spying tools. While nominally directed at foreign intelligence surveillance, this bill actually violates Americans' 4th Amendment rights to privacy. (1/10)
There we have it. Senate has passed the FISA Act. House passed the bill last week. The bill now goes to POTUS to sign — which he almost certainly will. pic.twitter.com/wCScMdKNpN
There are no meaningful restrictions on which non-U.S. persons the NSA targets for surveillance. Section 702 lets the NSA spy on people outside the country who are not American—and anyone who communicates with them, including Americans—without a warrant.
Section 702 does not permit the targeting of American citizens anywhere in the world. Let me repeat: Section 702 does not allow the targeting of American citizens. Nor the targeting of anyone of any nationality who is known to be in the U.S.
Congress abdicated its responsibility to ensure that our intelligence agencies respect the Fourth Amendment. Instead of instituting needed reforms, lawmakers voted to give the Trump administration broad powers to spy on Americans and foreigners without a warrant.
The Senate has voted to renew the controversial FISA Section 702 program. The vote was 65-34. Congress needed to act by tomorrow night or the program would have gone dark. The House and Senate are now in sync. The bill now goes to President Trump to sign into law.
We are currently challenging warrantless surveillance under Section 702 and will continue to fight this unlawful surveillance in the courts. We will use every tool at our disposal to stop the continued abuse of these spying powers.