{"id":148,"date":"2026-06-02T23:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=148"},"modified":"2026-06-02T23:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:13:19","slug":"bill-pultes-surprise-appointment-could-kill-a-key-spy-powers-reauthorization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=148","title":{"rendered":"Bill Pulte\u2019s Surprise Appointment Could Kill a Key Spy Powers Reauthorization"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to put the head of a federal housing agency in charge of the intelligence community has created a new political problem for a major surveillance law that Congress is struggling to negotiate.<\/p>\n

Read more Acting AG Blanche Says the \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund is Dead, \u2018Period\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Tuesday announcement that he was choosing Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence drew early pushback<\/u><\/span> from most Democrats and some Republicans, who questioned Pulte\u2019s lack of national security experience. But the timing also complicates a fight over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Congress has struggled for months to approve a long-term reauthorization for.<\/p>\n

Section 702 is a powerful surveillance authority that lets the government collect communications of foreigners overseas, but it has drawn privacy concerns because Americans\u2019 communications can also be swept up and searched without a warrant. Already, some of the holdouts in Congress who were skeptical of approving a longer reauthorization were balking at how the Trump administration could use the tool.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it creates a distraction because now you\u2019re going to ask people to vote on something that a DNI has a role in,\u201d Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who supports renewing Section 702, told NOTUS of Trump selecting Pulte for the role. \u201cI don\u2019t know why, given that we were so close, why they would have created that additional potential hurdle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis said he remains firmly behind the program. But he said the timing of Pulte\u2019s appointment could give Democrats another reason to oppose reauthorization.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre people going to try and use that? Democrats in particular?\u201d Tillis said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they should, but could that be the reason why they get to a no on reauthorization?\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats were quick to confirm this could be a major issue.<\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday that Pulte\u2019s appointment \u201cwill jeopardize the effort to pass surveillance legislation that was already on life support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy in the world should Democrats or any member of Congress trust Donald Trump, Kash Patel or Bill Pulte with the privacy of the American people?\u201d Jeffries said at a press conference.<\/p>\n

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the appointment \u201cinsane.\u201d He said that the tool is \u201ccritically important,\u201d but that Pulte\u2019s appointment hurts \u201cthe ability to kind of make the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the timing complicates FISA reauthorization, Warner said it \u201cdoesn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more House Nears Ukraine Aid Vote Amid Republican Divisions<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou take somebody with no national security experience, no intelligence experience, and it feels like his only qualification is he\u2019s willing to do whatever Donald Trump wants,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Democrats are pointing to Pulte\u2019s record as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency as a warning sign for his new intelligence role. There, Pulte has made criminal referrals involving Trump critics over alleged mortgage issues. Democrats say that demonstrates a track record of using government power against political opponents, and is a reason Pulte should not be trusted with far more sensitive intelligence authority.<\/p>\n

Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was \u201cpuzzled\u201d by the appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those of us who feel it\u2019s important to pass FISA, this doesn\u2019t help,\u201d King said, adding he hopes the appointment will not derail the surveillance bill.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, one of Congress\u2019 leading surveillance critics, wrote on X<\/u><\/span> that Pulte\u2019s appointment is \u201cone more reason every single Democrat should vote against rubber stamping the Trump administration\u2019s FISA Section 702 spying powers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Ted Lieu was even more direct.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be a hard NO on FISA Section 702 reauthorization,\u201d the California Democrat wrote on X<\/u><\/span>. \u201cWhether or not the totally unqualified and corrupt Bill Pulte gets confirmed, Trump\u2019s nomination of Pulte has already shown Trump would have no problem with weaponizing intelligence against Americans he doesn\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congress passed a 45-day extension of Section 702 in late April after lawmakers failed to agree on a longer reauthorization, giving them until mid-June to resolve the fight. The debate has split both parties, with national security hawks arguing the program is essential while privacy-minded lawmakers demand stronger limits on warrantless searches involving Americans.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley sounded optimistic about the state of the talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in pretty good shape, as far as I can tell,\u201d Grassley told NOTUS. \u201cEvery reaction we had, it looks to me like we got something that\u2019s bipartisan, bicameral.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Mystery Money Is Displacing Actual Campaigns in Democratic Primaries<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was \u201calready on life support.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nBill Pulte\u2019s Surprise Appointment Could Kill a Key Spy Powers Reauthorization - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=148\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Pulte\u2019s Surprise Appointment Could Kill a Key Spy Powers Reauthorization - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was \u201calready on life support.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=148\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T23:13:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Bill Pulte\u2019s Surprise Appointment Could Kill a Key Spy Powers Reauthorization\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T23:13:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148\"},\"wordCount\":787,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2c7b99a1c14dfbf1388c4b74abbe535c-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148\",\"name\":\"Bill Pulte\u2019s Surprise Appointment Could Kill a Key Spy Powers Reauthorization - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2c7b99a1c14dfbf1388c4b74abbe535c-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T23:13:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=148#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2c7b99a1c14dfbf1388c4b74abbe535c-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2c7b99a1c14dfbf1388c4b74abbe535c-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte speaks with reporters at the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Washington. 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