Mike Johnson’s FISA Win Risks an Even Angrier Right-Wing Faction

“Some of them may see me showing up in their districts very soon to campaign against them,” Rep. Matt Gaetz said of those who voted against a warrant requirement in the bill.

Mike Johnson AP-24038020960918
After a failed procedural vote on FISA earlier in the week, Johnson managed to secure a reauthorization of the spy program in the House. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Speaker Mike Johnson finally achieved a victory on the floor of the House. But it came with a price.

The House renewed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702 Friday, notably without including a warrant requirement for intelligence agencies wanting to query information about Americans — a provision the already frustrated far-right faction of the House Republican conference demanded.

“Every one of the members that voted against a warrant requirement, they own that,” Rep. Matt Gaetz said on the steps of the Capitol, just moments after FISA was passed by the House. “Some of them may see me showing up in their districts very soon to campaign against them,” he said, seemingly threatening his own colleagues.