House braces for battle over renewing controversial FISA surveillance tool

House Republicans are expected to vote on renewing a controversial federal government surveillance tool when they return from recess next week, multiple sources told Fox News Digital.

Two House GOP aides and a GOP lawmaker – all who spoke on the condition of anonymity – said the House could take up Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire on April 19 if Congress does not act soon. One of the aides said plans are still fluid.

Section 702 has been both credited with preventing terror attacks on U.S. soil and accused of being a vehicle for spying on U.S. citizens.

It lets the government keep tabs on specific foreign nationals outside the country without first obtaining a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of those communications is a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil.

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The debate over its renewal has been intense, and it’s made unlikely allies out of hard-liners on the left and right alike over accusations it tramples on Americans’ civil rights. The FBI has been accused of improperly using Section 702 to spy on Black Lives Matter protesters in the summer of 2020 as well as people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"Freedom surrendered is rarely reclaimed. Next week, Congress once again confronts an opportunity for reform and accountability of [FISA]," Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, one of the tool’s critics, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

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"Demand a debate and recorded vote to require warrants to search American citizens' data, to limit the scope of collection, and to stop the government from