April 15, 2026

House Republicans are scrambling in a high-stakes showdown to save a clean 18-month extension of the nation’s spy powers before the April 20 deadline, with hard-liners still dug in and House Rules Committee action briefly thrown into limbo Tuesday night. GOP leaders managed to clear a path for a floor vote Wednesday after Reps. Morgan Griffith, Ralph Norman and Chip Roy agreed not to block the move, but Speaker Mike Johnson still faces a brutal call: push ahead and risk an embarrassing defeat, or hit pause while negotiators hunt for enough votes. The fight centers on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a Trump-backed priority that many Republicans still refuse to support without new guardrails, and the clock is ticking fast.

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