Democrats May Block Surveillance Law Renewal Over Trump’s Intelligence Pick

Senate Democrats are pushing back on renewing a key surveillance law due to expire on June 12, after President Donald Trump named a housing official to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies.

Trump’s choice on Tuesday of Bill Pulte, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting director of national intelligence, drew objections from most Democrats and some Republicans, who said he lacks the national security experience for the role.

While keeping his housing post, Pulte would take over from Tulsi Gabbard, who is resigning on June 30, after disclosing her husband’s cancer diagnosis in May.

Pulte would need Senate confirmation to hold the intelligence job permanently.

The appointment lands in the middle of a months-long fight over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The law allows the government to collect the communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant.

Critics say it can also sweep up Americans’ messages, which the FBI can then search without a judge’s approval. Congress passed a 45-day extension in late April, pushing the deadline to June 12 after failing to agree on a longer renewal.

Democratic leaders had already said a long-term renewal cannot pass without a new warrant requirement to protect Americans’ data.

“Of course we want to see FISA done, but it needs some changes,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said. Pulte’s appointment has hardened that position.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement on Tuesday that, instead of an independent professional, Trump has chosen “someone who will be willing to shape intelligence around the president’s wishes.”

Warner said Pulte lacks the “extensive national security experience” required by law for the post, which Congress created after the Sept. 11 attacks, and said Pulte had used his housing agency office to pursue Trump’s political grievances.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Schumer made the same point about the experience requirement and said it makes passing an extension “much harder.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Tuesday that the appointment “will jeopardize the effort to pass surveillance legislation that was already on life support.” He questioned Pulte’s fitness, saying he has no national security, military, or law enforcement background.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), the vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, wrote on X that he would be “a hard NO” on reauthorization, saying Pulte’s nomination showed that Trump “would have no problem with weaponizing intelligence against Americans he doesn’t like.”

Some Republicans also questioned the choice.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Intelligence Committee, said he saw “no evidence of qualifications for that job,” and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Pulte “doesn’t seem qualified.”

The objections carry weight because of the math. Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, short of the 60 required to advance legislation, so they need Democratic votes. A bloc of Republicans also wants stronger privacy limits before agreeing to renew the program.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the program must be renewed and warned against the Democratic approach.

“We can’t go dark. We can’t afford to go dark,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Acknowledging “some consternation among Democrats on that appointment,” he said lawmakers must keep intelligence agencies operating “at a time when the world is increasingly dangerous.”

Thune called the Democrats’ position “a really risky strategy on their part.”

“I get their frustration,” he said, “but at the end of the day … we’ve got to keep the country safe.”

Some Democrats dispute the warning that the program would go dark.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has said Section 702 collection runs under yearlong certifications approved by the surveillance court that would let it continue even if the statute expires.

Trump has called for a “clean” renewal without new limits, saying the authority is vital to national security, particularly amid the conflict with Iran.

In announcing the appointment, the president wrote on Truth Social that Pulte “has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America,” pointing to his oversight of more than $10 trillion at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In an emailed response to questions about the Democrats’ position, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump chooses the best and most talented people to serve in his cabinet. 

“That is why this Administration has achieved record successes for the American people,” Ingle said. “Bill Pulte is a great selection and he will do a great job on behalf of the American people. Holding FISA hostage puts America’s national security at risk and it is shameful that some Democrats are threatening to put partisan politics ahead of the safety of the American people.”

Congress last renewed Section 702 in April 2024, adding 56 changes after a Justice Department review found tens of thousands of improper FBI searches of the data.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.