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The deadline to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act arrives in a week, on June 12, and lawmakers appear no closer to reaching an agreement. If this feels like déjà vu, that’s because we’ve been here before. Congress reauthorized Section 702 in late April — but only for 45 days, so lawmakers could negotiate reforms to the controversial wiretap authority.

Congress still can't decide what to do about warrantless surveillance

Trump's nomination of Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence put a damper on Republican reauthorization plans.

"There was no reformer in any of the conversations that took place. Period," Sean Vitka, executive director of Demand Progress, said at a press conference Friday afternoon, hours after the Senate voted 52-47 against a deal that would have renewed Section 702 for three years, which would have required sixty votes. Democrats voted against the plan because of President Donald Trump's announcement Thursday that Bill Pulte — a businessman without security clearance — would serve as acting director of national intelligence. They were joined by seven Republicans.

As head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Pulte would oversee 18 agencies. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Friday, Trump suggested he wanted Pulte to gut the ODNI. “We have shrunk the Department of Education and, likewise, it should be much smaller,” Trump said. According to the Journal, Trump suggested Pulte fire intelligence personnel who served under the Obama and Biden administrations.

Critics of a so-called “clean” expansion of Section 702 — without reforms like requiring a warrant for requests involving U.S. persons — have cited Trump’s well-documented abuse of his surveillance powers. Pulte's appointment only made matters worse for the administration, which has urged Republican lawmakers to reauthorize Section 702 without reforms.