Dems delay FISA update bill after Lofgren pushes for changes

By KYLE CHENEY and MARTIN MATISHAK02/26/2020 12:23 PM ESTUpdated: 02/26/2020 03:27 PM ESTLink CopiedThe Judiciary Committee has postponed a high-profile meeting Wednesday after a last-minute maneuver by a top committee Democrat threatened to sink a months-long effort to revise and reauthorize surveillance authorities due to expire next month.Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) had been prepared Wednesday to offer five amendments that would reform the Watergate-era law, known as FISA, that senior House Democrats see as "poison pills" that would doom the bill in the House. "The committee and Chairman Nadler have been working very carefully in intense negotiation for months with all the interest groups and had worked out a very carefully negotiated reform bill of FISA," one senior Democratic aide said, noting that the alliance between Nadler and Schiff had been the product of talks that occurred in earnest even as both committees were deeply involved in the impeachment process.But before the meeting was postponed, Lofgren rejected the notion that her amendments jeopardized the measure's chances of passing the House."I reject that categorization of what we’re doing here," Lofgren said in a phone interview.