Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) urged Democrats not to upend a deal to extend the federal government’s spy powers over President Donald Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte as acting intelligence chief.
“Honestly, I mean, do you want to be responsible for what could happen if we go dark on that program?” Thune told reporters on Wednesday, one day after Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned him privately that the appointment could jeopardize the emerging compromise, a three-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The authority, which lets the government surveil foreign persons without a warrant, expires at the end of next week, and lawmakers in both chambers are having trouble bringing their members on board.
“I just think it’s a really risky strategy on their part,” Thune said of the Democrats. “Obviously, I get their frustration, but at the end of the day, we have to function here, we’ve got to keep the country safe.”
Trump’s appointment of Pulte, a top housing official, blindsided congressional Republicans and Democrats alike on Tuesday. He lacks national security experience and has drawn scrutiny over his mortgage fraud investigations against prominent Democrats.
“It feels like his only qualification is he’s willing to do whatever Donald Trump wants,” Warner told reporters. “It appears to me that’s why he was picked, and the idea we’re going to give him the keys to the intelligence community, it’s insane.”
Warner relayed to Thune that all options are on the table when it comes to FISA negotiations, according to a source familiar with the Tuesday conversation, including scuttling the deal he helped broker.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) drew a sharper line on Wednesday morning, warning in a floor speech that Trump’s appointment of Pulte, who is serving in an acting capacity, had made a FISA extension “much harder.”
The appointment compounds what was already a shaky compromise, particularly when it comes to passage through the House. The text contains new protections meant to win over privacy hawks, as well as a three-year ban on central bank digital currencies – another deal sweetener for members of the House Freedom Caucus.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) seemed optimistic about the Senate text after a short-term extension, and Senate leadership, too, hopes to begin considering the bill before the end of the week.
House conservatives are not on board with the deal, however, and want a permanent ban on central bank digital currencies.
“Yeah, it’s a nonstarter,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. He and other caucus members have outsize sway given Johnson’s two-seat majority and expressed fear that a future president would not extend the language.
“If they want to bring this under a rule in the House, it’s going to have to include a permanent ban on CBDC,” Harris added.
Johnson addressed Democrats’ reservations over Pulte at his Wednesday press conference, quipping that “the Democrats wouldn’t trust Jesus.”
“The Democrats are not willing to do anything,” Johnson said, “because they want to make life hard for the president.”
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When asked about the state of FISA talks, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told reporters he was still reconciling differences with a House-authored bill that passed in April.
“We had a bill that included additional strong reforms that we passed over to the Senate,” he said. “There’s still a lot of negotiations going back and forth.”