US House rushes to vote for renewing controversial surveillance tool

Washington: The House rushed early Friday to renew a controversial surveillance program used by US spy agencies that is set to expire in a matter of days, unveiling several changes and calling lawmakers back to session for a middle-of-the-night vote.

Republican leaders rolled out a new proposal that would extend the program for five years with changes - far from the clean renewal President Donald Trump has demanded and Speaker Mike Johnson had previously backed.

Democrats late Thursday blasted the process ahead of votes expected early Friday.

"Does anybody actually know what the hell is in this thing?" Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern said after the proposal was unveiled.

At the centre of the standoff that has stretched throughout the week is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits the CIA, National Security Agency, FBI and other agencies to collect and analyse vast amounts of overseas communications without a warrant. In doing so, they can incidentally sweep up communications involving Americans who interact with foreign targets.

Its path to passage has teetered all week in a familiar fight, as lawmakers weigh civil liberties concerns against intelligence officials' warnings about national security risks. The program is set to expire April 20 and still must pass the Senate.

"There are a lot of opinions," Johnson said earlier Thursday. "We want to make sure that we have this very important tool for national security, but we also do it in a way that jealously guards constitutional rights."