BREAKING: House Of Representatives Passes Controversial FISA Renewal Without Warrant Requirement

On Friday, the GOP-led House of Representatives passed the controversial reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without an amendment that would have required a warrant when American data gets caught up in the collection. This law gives broad investigative power to America's intelligence agencies to collect data from non-Americans who pose a threat to the country. However, it has the potential for Americans' communications to be obtained without a warrant. The law has reportedly been abused by the FBI 278,000 times in 2021. 

The legislation passed with 273 votes in favor and 147 votes against reauthorization of the legislation for the next two years. An amendment, authored by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) that would have forced the FBI to use a warrant when Americans are involved, also failed with a vote of 212 in favor and 212 against, 86 of whom were Republicans. The amendment would have prevented "warrantless searches of U.S. person communications in the FISA 702 database, with exceptions for imminent threats to life or bodily harm, consent searches, or known cybersecurity threat signatures."

This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.

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