This week on The Hill: Lawmakers head into ‘hell week’ with FISA and reconciliation 2.0

Sudiksha Kochi

Mon, April 27, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC

7 min read

The House is heading into a high-stakes week, as lawmakers juggle a budget blueprint for a second reconciliation bill alongside a measure to extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) warrantless surveillance powers — all before departing for recess next week.

Most pressing on the agenda is an extension of Section 702 of FISA, which allows the government to spy on foreigners abroad without a warrant. The section expires Thursday, giving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) limited time to rally Republicans around a deal.

Johnson last week released a new proposal that would renew Section 702 for three years. However, it doesn’t include a warrant requirement, for which privacy-minded conservatives and House Freedom Caucus members have been clamoring.

Also on Republicans’ agenda is advancing a budget blueprint for a reconciliation bill that would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol as a path forward to end the record-breaking Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.

House Republicans have been divided on whether they want a “skinny” reconciliation bill — which Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is pushing for — or a more expansive package loaded with additional reforms, a route that could complicate passage and risk dragging out the shutdown, which has already stretched for more than two months.

This week “is going to be hell week,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) told reporters.

What you can expect this week:

FISA clock ticking:The deadline to renew Section 702 of FISA is days away, as Johnson aims to win over hard-line conservatives who have been the sticking point to this extension.
Reconciliation talks heat up: The size of a second reconciliation bill has divided House Republicans, complicating matters for Johnson.
King Charles III comes to Capitol Hill:King Charles III is expected to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
GOP divided over farm bill:It is unclear whether GOP leaders have enough support for the farm bill to pass, as some Republicans have been unsatisfied with certain provisions in the legislation.

FISA deadline looms as Johnson scrambles to find support

The proposal unveiled by GOP leadership last week to extend Section 702 for three years is likely to draw pushback from hard-line conservatives, complicating matters for Johnson, who needs near-unanimous support on a procedural rule vote to advance the measure.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a Freedom Caucus member who sits on the powerful House Rules Committee, said last week that the language in a draft text of the legislation was not to his satisfaction.

The reforms included in the bill would direct FBI agents to get attorney approval before running any query on an American, a process that a supervisor can OK. It would also direct the attorney general to begin a process to allow a larger pool of lawmakers to review Section 702 information at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, among other things.

But, it doesn’t include a warrant requirement.

Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, wrote on the social platform X hours after GOP leaders unveiled the proposal, “The government has no right to your private communications without a warrant. FISA needs serious reform. Full stop.”

Self wrote in a Blaze Media op-ed with Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) published Friday that “warrants do not prevent surveillance.”

“They require the government to convince a judge that the surveillance is justified, as the Constitution requires. Government agencies that cannot meet that standard are fishing — for you,” they wrote.

Thune last Thursday also filed cloture for a three-year Section 702, setting the stage for a vote that could potentially jump ahead of the House.

House GOP conference divided on reconciliation 2.0

The Senate adopted a budget blueprint for a reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol late last week, sending it over to the House for consideration.

But while Thune has been pushing for a “skinny” bill, hard-line conservatives, skeptical they will get another shot at reconciliation in the future, are opting for a more expansive bill that folds in additional priorities like defense spending and health care reform.

“This will probably be the last reconciliation we do before the end of the year. We got the break coming up, and it’s just we got to address — we got to put more to it than just this,” Norman said last week.

Some conservatives have also been pushing for DHS to be fully funded through reconciliation, a special process that allows the majority party to bypass a filibuster in the Senate.

Others, however, have been hesitant about adding to the bill.

“I don’t think that there’s going to be any path toward passing anything broader than what’s been teed up in the Senate,” said Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.), who caucuses with Republicans.

“And so I’m going to need to look very closely at what, you know, this will actually do, and I’ve been clear that I want to see meaningful reforms when it comes to immigration enforcement. I think that’s what Americans are asking for. … Things like body camera training, enforcement around sensitive places, projections. There’s a warrant for entering homes,” Kiley added.

House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said last week that once people feel a third “broader reconciliation is viable and has traction and has a commitment from the leadership down and throughout the four corners of our conference, then I think we can push — we can move the skinny Homeland reconciliation bill.”

King Charles III to address Congress

The king is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday as part of the U.S.’s semiquincentennial celebrations, marking the nation’s 250th anniversary of independence.

“As we celebrate this historic milestone and recommit ourselves to the principles upon which our nation was founded, we also recognize that the American experiment endures in no small part because of the British tradition from which it sprang,” Johnson, Thune, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to the king earlier this month.

“We believe an Address to Congress will provide a unique opportunity to share your vision for the future of our special relationship and reaffirm our alliance at this pivotal time in history,” they added.

Charles and Queen Camilla are set to visit the U.S. starting Monday, during which they will attend a state dinner at the White House.

But the king’s visit is not without controversy. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who led the push for the Department of Justice to release files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, had requested Charles meet with Epstein victims, according to The New York Times.

The king’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — formerly known as Prince Andrew — was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct while in public office, amid revelations over his purported ties with Epstein.

But lawyers representing the monarchs had written in a letter that the king will not meet with Epstein victims, the Times reported.

Support for farm bill up in the air

The House Rules Committee is set to consider a major farm bill Monday. But Republicans have been divided over certain provisions in the legislation, posing a headache for GOP leaders.

One such provision fueling GOP division would prevent states and courts from penalizing pesticide makers for failing to include warnings on their labels about health effects that go beyond those formally recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Proponents say it prevents companies from having to comply with a hodgepodge of rules that could differ from place to place. However, opponents of such language argue that it could be used to tamp down on failure-to-warn lawsuits that seek to hold pesticide companies accountable for not disclosing alleged harms of their products.

GOP leaders could also run into trouble with conservative fiscal hawks, who have typically advocated against increased spending and will likely be wary about how much the farm bill will add to the growing deficit.

Either way, GOP leaders are pressing forward with the bill. A notice sent out by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s (R-Minn.) floor director and obtained by Politico last week says the farm bill “expands on investments in rural communities, returns science-backed management to our national forests, and restores regulatory certainty in the interstate marketplace.”

It is unclear how much support the bill will earn from Democrats. The bill advanced out of the House Agriculture Committee in a 34-17 vote in March, with seven Democratic members backing the legislation.

However, House Agriculture Committee ranking member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) argued that the bill “fails to meet the moment facing farmers and working people” and includes “poison pills that complicates if not derails chances of getting anything done.”

Rebecca Beitsch, Emily Brooks, and Rachel Frazin contributed.

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