Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) went after President Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Sunday for forcing a tie vote against an amendment to a controversial spy bill, upsetting some of the most conservative Republicans.
Conservatives and progressives came together to demand an amendment to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) last week, which would require a warrant for government spying on Americans. The vote on the amendment was tied after Johnson voted against, jeopardizing the change.
“Speaker Johnson was incredibly wrong,” Paul said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.” “He broke the tie. He voted with the Democrats. Here we have the leader of the House Republicans voting with the Democrats against requiring a warrant.”
“We also have President Johnson voting for the spending package once again with the majority of Democrats,” he continued. “The way I see it now, I’m not so sure there’s a difference between Mike Johnson being in charge and the Democrats being in charge.”
The vote on the FISA amendment was bipartisan, with 86 Republicans – including Johnson – and 126 Democrats voting against it. Paul, a libertarian-minded conservative, was a strong supporter of the FISA amendment in the Senate.
Despite former President Trump’s endorsement over the weekend, the vote infuriated the most conservative members of Congress and added to growing dissent against Johnson.
Paul urged Johnson to do more to earn his trust.
“Johnson didn’t stand his ground,” Paul said. “He has power. He has a majority. Use the power of the purse. President Johnson, do something to make us think you are different from the Democrats. But so far I don’t see much of a difference.”
After Friday’s vote, some hard-line supporters of the FISA amendment said they are ready to travel to GOP districts to campaign against those who have criticized the amendment.
“Each of these members who voted against requiring a warrant is the deciding vote. They own it,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) said after the vote. “And some of them may see me showing up in their districts very soon to campaign against them and defend the Constitution.”
The broader FISA package easily passed the House after the amendment failed. As a final act of protest, dissidents delayed the bill’s progress in the House until this week.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who supported the amendment, called on voters to pressure their lawmakers to support the warrant provision in a Senate version of the bill.
“This is not off the House floor, so everyone has to go home and answer to their constituents over the next 72 hours about why they side with the intelligence agencies and the deep state and the swamp over rights and American freedoms. people,” Roy said.
“That was the choice today,” he continued. “And every single person in this body, no matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, voted against an amendment to protect Americans, to protect them with a mandate, and they have to respond to that.”
Johnson has previously criticized the surveillance powers of FISA Section 702, but has recently reversed positions since assuming the presidency. The provision allows U.S. intelligence agencies to collect communications from foreign citizens under investigation, including communications with Americans.
“When I was a member of the judiciary, I saw all the abuses of the FBI — there were terrible abuses, over and over again,” Johnson told reporters last week. “And then when I became president, I… got the classified briefing from a different perspective on this, to understand the need for Section 702 of FISA and how important it is to national security.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
