Speaker Mike Johnson faced a major setback on Wednesday when 19 members of his own party voted to block advancement of a key surveillance tool renewal bill. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images and Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Conservative privacy hawks who tanked the bill were angry over how it was handled, including the exclusion of an amendment mandating warrants for the purchase of U.S. citizens’ data from third-party data brokers.
But Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., suggested that the group's tactics on House floor votes take away from their actual goals.
"I think people make good, salient arguments. The problem is in the delivery — if all you do is scream, no one listens to you anymore," he said. "And I think there can be merits on lots of good arguments, but when you cry wolf all the time, when everything’s a no, you undermine your credibility."
A rule vote would typically fall along party lines, with even lawmakers opposed to the bill voting in favor of allowing it to proceed if it was introduced by their own side. However, small factions of the House GOP’s razor-thin majority have weaponized rule votes to kill their own party’s legislation as a form of protest against their leadership.
"What I heard in there was that they weren't p---ed off about the underlying bill. The FISA bill itself was 56 reforms, all that stuff. That's good," another GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital. "Why they voted against the rule, it wasn't because of the FISA bill itself. It was the process. It was the amendments that they didn't get allowed to bring to the floor that actually made them move against it."
HOUSE SINKS JOHNSON-BACKED FISA RENEWAL AFTER TRUMP PUSH
House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good was one of the 19 Republicans to tank the bill. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner, R-Ohio, meanwhile, suggested to reporters on Wednesday evening that letting Section 702 expire on April 19 would have dire consequences, warning, "We will go blind on April 20."
FISA COURT OPINION REVEALS A US SENATOR, STATE SENATOR, STATE JUDGE GOT SWEPT UP IN 702 QUERIES
"Unfortunately, there’s a great deal of misinformation about FISA. FISA is not a bulk data collection program. It is not spying on Americans," he continued. "It is collecting foreigners' data that are abroad that represent a very small group of 250,000 who are a national security threat. Unfortunately, the proposed warrant would render our ability to see communications with people who… are with national security threats like the head of ISIS, head of Hamas, head of Al Qaeda, in an unworkable structure."
It's not immediately clear what House GOP leaders’ next steps would be. Multiple GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital that among the considerations are a short-term extension of the current Section 702 program, which both sides of the argument have criticized as ripe for abuse, or being forced to take up the Senate’s renewal bill.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Privacy hawks, meanwhile, are pushing Johnson to allow as many amendment votes on the bill as requested to ensure all members have a voice in shaping the bill — even if those amendments would not get past the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-republicans-blast-cry-wolf-conservatives-who-tanked-fisa-renewal-bill