House Republican leaders pulled a key procedural vote on reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Wednesday, scrambling to appease conservative holdouts concerned about warrantless surveillance of Americans.

The delay came hours before a planned afternoon vote on a "clean" 18-month extension of the program, which allows U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance on non-Americans overseas but has drawn fire for incidentally collecting Americans' communications without warrants. Section 702 is set to expire on April 20 unless Congress acts.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) expressed optimism for a resolution later Wednesday, telling reporters, "I expect it to be today, probably later today." He acknowledged discussions of "minor modifications to the bill," including additional restrictions on search queries of Americans' data and enhanced penalties for violations. Johnson argued that reforms enacted in 2024 already provide sufficient safeguards.

President Donald Trump urged Republicans to unify behind the clean extension in a Truth Social post at 11:42 a.m. ET, calling for the party to "stick together" on the procedural vote and work with Johnson, House Intelligence Chair Rick Crawford, and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan. CIA Director John Ratcliffe reinforced the push during a closed-door House GOP conference meeting Wednesday morning, briefing members on the national security need for uninterrupted authority.

Opposition stems primarily from Freedom Caucus members and privacy hawks who insist on stronger protections against government overreach. Named holdouts include Reps. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), Andy Harris (R-Md., Freedom Caucus chair), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Harris noted tensions between the executive and legislative branches, saying, "Look, he’s the executive, we’re the legislative, and we’re going to see a little bit of conflict between those two today." Luna has tied her support to including elements of the SAVE America Act for voter integrity.

Critics argue the program enables backdoor searches of Americans' data and has been abused in the past, with concerns heightened by AI's potential to expand surveillance. The slim GOP majority, 218-214, leaves little room for defections on the party-line rule vote needed to advance the bill.

This marks the latest hurdle after leaders delayed an initial vote from late March to mid-April amid similar bipartisan pushback. If no deal is reached, Republicans may pursue a short-term extension of a few months as a fallback, while Democrats could advance their own reform proposal.

A successful House passage could send the measure to the Senate as early as Thursday, averting a lapse in a tool intelligence officials say underpins much of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.