FORT WASHINGTON, MD — Conservative lawmakers pledged to their base Thursday morning that they would seek to avoid another clean extension of expiring government surveillance powers.
Rep. Doug Collins, the outgoing ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, was on the stage for a previously scheduled appearance at the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference. He spoke just a day after Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York abruptly postponed a committee markup of draft legislation to reauthorize and update key surveillance authorities that are scheduled to sunset March 15.
Collins and like-minded Republicans argue that a broader overhaul of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act powers is needed, including the operation of the secretive FISA Court to prevent a recurrence of the issues that arose in surveillance of Carter Page, a former adviser to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Continue reading.