{"id":228962,"date":"2026-06-09T13:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/09\/republican-senators-warn-surveillance-program-may-lapse-after-trump-intel-pick-backlash\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T18:35:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T22:35:24","slug":"republican-senators-warn-surveillance-program-may-lapse-after-trump-intel-pick-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/09\/republican-senators-warn-surveillance-program-may-lapse-after-trump-intel-pick-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican senators warn surveillance program may lapse after Trump intel pick backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican senators warn surveillance program may lapse after Trump intel pick backlash<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/federalnewsnetwork.com\/cybersecurity\/2026\/06\/republican-senators-warn-surveillance-program-may-lapse-after-trump-intel-pick-backlash\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-09 13:48:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: federalnewsnetwork.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. <\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Republicans are warning the White House that a critical surveillance authority is likely to lapse this week amid bipartisan backlash over President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to temporarily lead the nation\u2019s intelligence community.
\nSen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sounded the alarm in a letter over the weekend after a failed procedural vote to extend the program.
\nThe senators urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also acts as the president\u2019s National Security Advisor, to prepare \u201cfor a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection\u201d if the authority expires. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, set to lapse June 12, allows agencies including the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant.
\nIn a response obtained by The Associated Press, Rubio replied to the senators that he understands the \u201cpolitical challenges\u201d but said he is \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d that Democrats are opposing the legislation.]]><\/p>\n

\u201cAllowing Section 702 to expire would have dire impacts on our ability to keep the nation secure,\u201d Rubio wrote.
\nEfforts to secure a long-term extension of the program already faced hurdles because of bipartisan concerns that the program can incidentally collect Americans\u2019 communications. Privacy advocates and some lawmakers have been pushing to create a new warrant requirement before those communications can be searched.
\nSenate leaders from both parties appeared to be nearing bipartisan agreement on a long-term extension, but the effort collapsed after Trump selected federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence.
\nDemocrats and several Republicans registered their opposition to Trump\u2019s selection of Pulte, arguing the federal housing finance regulator lacks the experience needed to oversee the nation\u2019s 18 intelligence agencies and has used his current position to investigate some of the president\u2019s perceived political rivals.
\n\u201cWhy the president would throw this live hand grenade of Bill Pulte in 10 days before this is due to expire, I\u2019m not sure,\u201d Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d
\nPulte pick upends bipartisan deal
\nEven as they say it is critical, Democrats have said they won\u2019t have the votes to renew the surveillance authority unless Pulte\u2019s appointment is withdrawn. Republican leaders tried to start the process last week, but seven Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in blocking a long-term extension.
\n\u201cThe White House bears the responsibility to fix this,\u201d Warner said. \u201cThey have the power to do it. They can do it today. Let\u2019s see what happens.\u201d]]><\/p>\n

Trump has said that Pulte won\u2019t be his permanent pick, but has not announced a nominee to be confirmed by the Senate.
\nSenate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday that there are \u201cconversations\u201d around the White House nominating a permanent pick for the job before the surveillance authority expires. But he said he wasn\u2019t sure what they would decide to do.
\n\u201cWe have a deadline ahead of us. We need Democrat votes,\u201d Thune said. \u201cThe naming of Pulte to that position, although the timing arguably wasn\u2019t the best, I still don\u2019t think it ought to derail something that\u2019s this important.\u201d
\nThune has also expressed concern over Pulte\u2019s pick, saying the nation\u2019s top intelligence post should not be \u201cweaponized\u201d and that the job should be filled by \u201cprofessionals.\u201d Cotton, who rarely strays from supporting Trump and is a leading advocate for the surveillance authority, declined to endorse Pulte last week, saying only that he had \u201cno observations on the matter.\u201d
\n\u201cHe\u2019s not qualified for the long-term position,\u201d Republican Sen. James Lankford, another member of the Intelligence Committee, told \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s been clear on this. He has no national security background.\u201d
\nBoth Republican and Democratic senators skeptical of Pulte pointed to his record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the role, he\u2019s been linked with criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the Federal Reserve.
\n\u201cClearly to get to good-faith negotiations the effort to elevate Bill Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence should be reversed. Immediately,\u201d House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.
\nA key surveillance tool
\nThe current reauthorization debate is hardly the first time that lawmakers have grappled with the fate of the surveillance program, particularly after a flurry of revelations about government misuse of the vast trove of intelligence it collects.
\nThe topic in recent years has scrambled predictable partisan alliances, with Democratic critics of the Trump administration uniting with skeptics of government power on the right in voicing concerns about Section 702\u2019s renewal.]]><\/p>\n

In 2024, for instance, those divisions nearly caused the program to lapse. The Senate barely missed its midnight deadline that year before approving by a 60-34 margin legislation to reauthorize Section 702 that was subsequently signed by then-President Joe Biden.
\nIn a post on X, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche urged Democrats \u201cto come back to the table with their Republican counterparts.\u201d
\nThe authority is \u201cone of our nation\u2019s key tools for finding and stopping foreign terrorists,\u201d Blanche said.
\nCotton and Grassley said they believed Democratic leaders would not support another short-term extension of the surveillance authority and urged Rubio to prepare contingency plans. They said Trump should consider an executive order to prevent a disruption in intelligence collection.
\nDemocrats and Republicans have said they were close on a bipartisan deal on a long-term extension and could still move quickly should a change occur before Friday. Still, the bill would likely need to go through the House \u2014 and the two chambers so far have disagreed on a separate issue regarding central banking digital currency.
\nRepublicans are already warning of the consequences if Congress fails to act.
\n\u201cIf it goes dark, then it would be a calamitous situation for the country,\u201d House Speaker Mike Johnson said.
\n___
\nAssociated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright
\n \u00a9\u00a02026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n

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