Jeffries says Democrats will oppose rule governing spy powers bill

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that Democrats are lining up en masse against helping Republicans advance legislation to a final vote to extend the government’s warrantless surveillance powers.

Jeffries acknowledged that the vote on the bill itself will divide Democrats, and he declined to say how he will vote himself. 

“But what you can expect is that every single Democrat will oppose the rule,” he told reporters in the Capitol. “And then we’ll see where we go from there.”

GOP leaders are scrambling to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows federal intelligence officials to gather communications from foreigners living abroad. The provision is highly controversial because the process inevitably captures communications from Americans, and there are lawmakers on both sides of the aisle vowing to oppose the bill without reforms. 

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has so far ruled out amendments to the law, hoping instead to push a “clean” reauthorization. 

There are enough lawmakers in both parties to pass the legislation, but it has to reach the floor first. 

Under normal circumstances, that process would require the passage of a rule governing debate on the underlying bill. But Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is already vowing to oppose the rule, unless the Senate passes voting reforms demanded by President Trump. And several other Republicans have said they might join her. 

Because of the Republicans’ narrow House advantage — and the tradition that the minority party tends to oppose all rules put forth by the majority — just two GOP defections could be enough to sink the rule and prevent a vote on the underlying FISA bill.

In rare cases, Democrats have crossed the aisle to help GOP leaders pass rules governing legislation that the Democrats support. Jeffries, though, said this is not one of those occasions.

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