In the middle of the night, President Trump posted on Truth Social “I’m against FISA if it doesn’t come with The Save America Act (Full version!) firmly attached to it.” Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, allows the government to surveil foreigners abroad and to search through the communications of Americans who come in contact with those people in the process. The House failed to extend FISA for the first time since 2008, following a 198–218 vote with 19 Republicans voting alongside Democrats to block it. Although the surveillance bill is deeply unpopular, Trump is now demanding the Save America Act becomes a prerequisite to FISA’s passing — which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast a ballot. The voting rights bill also failed recently in the Senate, seeing only 50 of its 60-vote threshold.
