Republicans are still struggling to figure out a path forward to renew Section 702 of FISA, but Democrats are also laboring to get on the same page.
House Democratic leaders have given Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, space to try to hammer out compromise reauthorization language.
Several Democrats predicted their colleagues would come along if Raskin signed off.
“We are very quickly trying to brainstorm our way through this,” Raskin said. “The Republicans would like to think that they can do this without us, but I don’t think that they can … I’m not sure that we can do it without them.”
Himes asserted there would be 290 votes for a package with some changes “if [Republicans] can just get their act together to do it” — noting the last reauthorization got support from 70% of the Democratic Caucus.
“Will those reforms satisfy everybody? Absolutely not,” Himes said.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, summed up the feeling of many Democrats: “If the two of them [Himes and Raskin] are in the same space, the rest of the caucus will be also.”
GOP perspective. House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said a final FISA bill didn’t necessarily need to include a warrant requirement to clear the House.
“I think there’s a path forward that doesn’t go as far as a warrant requirement but that does provide a higher degree of accountability and transparency as it applies to the use of this tool,” Crawford said in an interview.
