GOP-led House passes bipartisan Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act

The GOP-led House voted on Wednesday to pass the bipartisan Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, sponsored by Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio.

According to Davidson's office, the legislation would stop the "federal government from circumventing Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy by closing loopholes that allow the government to purchase Americans’ data from big tech companies without a search warrant."

The bill passed on the House floor 219 to 199, with 90 Republicans and 109 Democrats opposing it. The bill heads to the Democratic-led Senate for consideration. 

The vote was the result of an agreement Johnson reached with House conservatives last week in exchange for not blocking, for the second time, a rule to allow House floor consideration of the bill to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for 2 years instead of 5 years.

Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., are among the co-sponsors of the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act. Each of those lawmakers supported an amendment to FISA section 702 that would have ended warrantless surveillance if had passed.

When the FISA bill was debated on the House floor, the amendment to end warrantless surveillance failed 212-212. The bill ultimately passed without the amendment.