House Speaker’s FISA Plan Collapses at 2 A.M. After 20 Republicans Revolt

It was quite a night on Capitol Hill.

Speaker Mike Johnson tried everything. A five-year extension. An 18-month extension. President Trump personally urged Republicans to get in line. None of it worked.

Shortly after 2 a.m. Friday morning, Johnson’s plan to renew the government’s controversial surveillance powers collapsed — tanked by 20 members of his own party who refused to budge on privacy concerns.

Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna was practically gloating about the late-night chaos:

They have called us back at midnight to cast a secret vote to reauthorize FISA while America sleeps. A yes vote gives Trump more power to surveil Americans.
Every Democrat must vote no. Everyone who loves the constitution must vote no. pic.twitter.com/kJGQm5EWW3

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) April 17, 2026

Here’s how it all went down. Johnson rushed lawmakers back into session late Thursday night for a series of back-to-back votes on extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — the provision that lets intelligence agencies monitor foreign targets but has been criticized for sweeping up Americans’ communications without a warrant.

First, leadership tried a five-year renewal with revisions. That went nowhere. Then they tried to salvage President Trump’s preferred option — a clean 18-month extension with no new limits on surveillance. That also crashed and burned, failing 197 to 228.

Newsweek published the full list of GOP holdouts:

According to the House clerk’s official vote record, 20 Republicans voted against moving forward with the 18-month extension: Lauren Boebert, Tim Burchett, Eric Burlison, Michael Cloud, Andrew Clyde, Eli Crane, Warren Davidson, Paul Gosar, Andy Harris, Diana Harshbarger, Thomas Massie, Mary Miller, Ralph Norman, Andy Ogles, Scott Perry, John Rose, Keith Self, Victoria Spartz, Sheri Biggs, and Mark Harris.

President Donald Trump had previously urged Republicans to support extending the program. “I am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this week. “We need to stick together.”

Twenty Republicans looked at that message from the President and said: no thanks.

Rep. Bob Good praised the holdouts for standing firm on the Fourth Amendment:

Thank you to the 6 House R’s who withstood the pressure early this morning and voted against BOTH the 5 yr & 18-mo FISA reauthorizations w/out sufficient reforms: Andy Harris MD, Thomas Massie KY, Andy Ogles TN, Scott Perry PA, John Rose TN & Keith Self TX

— Bob Good (@RepBobGood) April 17, 2026

With both proposals dead in the water, the House scrambled. At 2:09 a.m., they passed a bare-minimum 10-day extension by unanimous consent — kicking the can down the road to April 30. The Senate cleared it by voice vote Friday, sending it to President Trump’s desk.

PBS News put it in perspective:

The revolt is a significant setback for House Speaker Mike Johnson and the White House, who both pushed for a clean long-term extension of the surveillance authority. With Johnson controlling a slim majority, he has little room for dissent.

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The short-term fix leaves the future of Section 702 unresolved, as lawmakers remain divided over how to balance national security considerations with concerns over privacy.

Senator Mike Lee made it crystal clear that the fight over FISA reforms is far from over:

FISA 702 must be reformed

As the failed House vote last night made clear, it can’t be reauthorized without reforms @SenatorDurbin and I have a bipartisan bill that reforms FISA 702 in a way that allows it to perform its national-security functions while protecting Americans pic.twitter.com/AKLHEs9LpC

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 17, 2026

Congress has 10 days to figure out what they couldn’t resolve in months. Good luck with that.