Perez votes to extend Foreign Surveillance Act

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Skamania is one of 42 Democrats who voted last week in favor of a surveillance program opposed by civil liberties and free-press advocates.

The House of Representatives voted 235-191 to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for another three years. Congress enacted Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2008 to allow U.S. intelligence agencies to collect, analyze and share foreign intelligence without needing a court-ordered warrant. The section is aimed at residents of foreign nations and has provisions to minimize surveilling U.S. citizens, but opponents say those provisions do not fully protect Americans’ private data or prevent intelligence agencies from using that data to target protesters, journalists and other U.S. residents.

Dozens of civil liberties, free-press and criminal justice organizations — including the American Civil Liberties Union, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Brennan Center for Justice, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Reporters Without Borders — opposed passing the extension of the section known as FISA 702 without major reforms to protect against the federal government collecting personal data without a court order.

“Section 702 is one of the most abused provisions of FISA,” Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a news release issued Tuesday. “FBI agents routinely use this spying tool to probe the private communications of people in the United States, without ever getting a warrant.”

In a letter sent to congressional leadership April 24, nearly 40 civil liberties and free-press associations warned that extending FISA 702 without revisions threatens Americans’ privacy.

“FISA 702, a warrantless surveillance authority that collects the private communications of a huge number of Americans … has been repeatedly misused to deliberately pull up Americans’ private communications, and despite changes of the law enacted in 2024, broad misconduct continues,” the groups said.

Perez said in an emailed statement that she supported significant FISA reforms during her first term “to make sure the intelligence community used its 702 authority within its congressional intent: on foreign individuals on foreign soil.”

“These reforms increased transparency and penalties for violations, and we have two years experience to show they are working,” Perez said. “This process isn’t perfect, but letting these authorities lapse in the face of threats from terrorists, spies and others who wish to do our country harm was not an option. I will continue to carefully monitor the ways in which this authority is used.”

The extension approved by the House is likely to face an uphill battle in the Senate. Democratic senators from Washington and Oregon already have warned against passing FISA 702 without reforms.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told the Senate that as written, FISA 702 is a dangerous surveillance tool.

“When it comes to reauthorizing Section 702, the only path forward is reform,” Wyden said. “There are many ways in which Section 702 can be abused by this administration, including the warrantless searches of Americans’ communications in Section 702 data. And there are already screaming alarm bells pointing to administration abuses.”

Wyden warned his colleagues in the Senate that the surveillance tool could be used to discredit American elections and to target journalists or protesters who push back against the Trump administration.

“When all the guardrails are gone and the abuses are clear, there is only one solution: Congress must require court-ordered warrants to conduct searches on Americans,” he said. “There should be certain exceptions, such as for emergency situations, but the court is the only guardrail left.”