Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) made a motion to suspend the rules and pass S. 4465, which would extend by 45 days the expiration date of Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. Section 702 of FISA allows U.S. intelligence agencies to target foreign individuals located outside the United States to acquire foreign intelligence information. In order to acquire the "foreign intelligence," though, the federal government uses databases to conduct warrantless "backdoor searches" of American citizens' emails, text messages, and phone calls when they communicate with targeted foreigners.
The House agreed to Jordan's motion on April 30, 2026 by a vote of 261 to 111 (Roll Call 155). We have assigned pluses to the nays because using FISA to spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant violates the Fourth Amendment. While the bill includes provisions to ostensibly protect the privacy of U.S. citizens, they fail to uphold Americans' Fourth Amendment-protected rights. Furthermore, the FISA Court approves just about any surveillance request that comes its way, and given the track record of intelligence agencies, it isn't likely that they would actually follow such rules.
