The House voted 235-191 to extend Section 702 of FISA for three years, with Speaker Mike Johnson spending over two hours Wednesday corralling libertarian Republicans who had blocked the bill. Forty-two Democrats crossed party lines to support the measure while 22 Republicans opposed it. The law now heads to the Senate, which has vowed changes that could delay final passage past Thursday's midnight expiration deadline.

The surveillance provision, enacted in 2008, permits the government to collect communications from U.S. companies like Google and AT&T without a warrant, even when Americans are incidentally caught in the net. Privacy-minded Senators Ron Wyden and Mike Lee are pushing to add new limits on government wiretapping. The debate splits both parties, with civil liberties advocates clashing with national security hawks over whether prosecutors should need warrants to access Americans' information.

Complicating matters, Johnson bundled the FISA bill with digital currency legislation to win over Freedom Caucus members—a provision Senate Majority Leader John Thune called dead on arrival. Proponents warn that any lapse would cause the government to "go dark," though intelligence officials could technically continue operations until March 2027 thanks to a built-in safety net.