House leadership just tried to rush through a major expansion of unconstitutional government surveillance. FISA Section 702 is the authority that lets the government collect massive amounts of communications – and then search that data for Americans’ emails, calls, and text messages without a warrant. It was set to expire on April 20, and for weeks, leadership had been pushing for a “clean” extension of this program – keeping it in place for 18 more months with no reforms. At the same time, they were negotiating with members of Congress who were demanding a warrant requirement and other protections for Americans. Then late Thursday night, leadership suddenly changed course. Just before 11 p.m., House leadership dropped new legislation to reauthorize FISA 702 for five years. They claimed it included a warrant requirement, but that wasn’t true: Their phony “warrant requirement” would have done nothing to stop unconstitutional warrantless searches of Americans’ communications. Then, without giving members time to read or understand the new language, leadership tried to rush it through in the middle of the night – teeing up a vote around 1 a.m. to swap it in and push it toward passage before the public could catch on. Thankfully, the vote failed. They then tried to fall back to their “clean” 18-month extension. That failed, too. But both votes were close – close enough that a small shift could have changed the outcome. In votes like that, outside pressure matters. Over the past few days, so many of you spoke up – calling your representatives and making clear that warrantless surveillance of Americans is unlawful and unacceptable. Thank you. That kind of pressure makes all the difference. But the fight isn’t over. After those votes failed, Congress passed a short-term extension to buy more time to negotiate, pushing the program through April 30. That gives leadership another chance to try again – and a short window to keep up the momentum. What happened in the wee hours was a shameful attempt to mislead the public with fake reform and trade it for five more years of surveillance powers, rushed through at a time when most people weren’t paying attention. It didn’t succeed – but it came close, and it’s a reminder that this kind of attention matters. They’re going to try again, and keeping engaged is how we give ourselves – and allies in Congress – the best chance to force real reforms. Thanks to all of you at home. We’ll keep you informed as this fight continues.