Speaker Mike Johnson is kicking off a third round of debate over a controversial surveillance power with a warning to his conference: If they fail, they could be jammed by the Senate.

Johnson’s letter to his colleagues comes as the House is expected to vote next week on legislation reauthorizing and making changes to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The spy power targets foreigners outside of the United States, but has come under scrutiny for its ability to sweep in Americans.

It remains far from clear if the House will be able to pass the bill, or even get it to the floor. Republicans’ infighting, and their single-digit margin, has already forced Johnson to punt twice, and there’s lingering skepticism this go-round will end differently. Congress has until April 19 to reauthorize the spy authority.

Johnson, in his letter, warned that if the House fails for a third time to pass a bill, the Senate will send it a so-called “clean” extension of the spy power with no changes, potentially boxing the House into accepting that or letting the authority lapse.

“If our bill fails, we will be faced with an impossible choice and can expect the Senate to jam us with a clean extension that includes no reforms at all. That is clearly an unacceptable option,” Johnson wrote in the letter.

The bill rolled out by House Republicans on Friday largely resembles a proposal from February that would extend the program, while also making changes aimed at bolstering oversight and training and the program’s transparency.

But Friday’s bill includes a notable change from the February bill — it appears to remove a section on reports to Congress related to commercially available data. The language was added into the bill in February by leadership so that a bipartisan proposal restricting data brokers from selling consumer information to law enforcement could get a vote as part of the House’s debate on Section 702, despite being unrelated to the authority. The move in February infuriated Intelligence Committee Republicans and led to them threatening to tank the bill. Johnson instead punted for a second time.

Johnson doesn’t address the change in his Friday letter — though he noted that he’ll hold a series of meetings with his members next week about the bill. A coalition of Judiciary Committee Republicans and Freedom Caucus members have made getting a vote on the data broker amendment one of their red lines.

They didn’t immediately weigh in Friday after the legislation was rolled out. Several aides involved in the debate indicated they were in a wait-and-see mode, while others warned that the amendment’s absence could imperil Johnson’s ability to bring a bill to the floor for a third time. In a potential fig leaf, House Republican leadership announced on Friday night that they could take up the proposal separately as a standalone bill next week.

That won’t be the only fight as Johnson tries to bring a bill to the floor next week.

A coalition of privacy hawks and the intelligence community and its allies are gearing up for a contentious fight over a proposal to require a warrant before searching data collected under Section 702 for information related to Americans. The provision is not in the bill released on Friday but is expected to get a vote as part of the debate.

Including a warrant requirement for searches related to Americans has been a long-sought goal for a bipartisan coalition that spans progressive, privacy-minded lawmakers and libertarian-leaning Republicans. They’ve seen their ranks grow in recent years after a series of high-profile missteps by the FBI, which also led to a series of internal reforms within the bureau.

But the administration, and intelligence community allies on Capitol Hill, are warning that requiring a warrant would effectively neuter Section 702. Intelligence community officials are scheduled to brief the House on Wednesday, where they will likely make that point behind closed doors as well.

A senior administration official said they were “optimistic” that they could be able to defeat a warrant requirement amendment. (Senior administration officials declined to say during a call with reporters on Friday if the White House would threaten to veto the bill if a warrant requirement is added, noting it’s up to President Joe Biden.)

“It will be a real detriment to the American people and national security,” a senior administration official said.

The warrant requirement proposal is getting a vote as part of a deal with leadership ensuring that members of both the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee, who are on opposite sides of the debate, would get amendment votes. And outside groups are keeping a close eye on what amendments the two panels put forward as part of Tuesday’s meeting in the Rules Committee to tee up the floor debate.

The American Immigration Council sent a memo to congressional Democrats urging them to vote against an amendment, if it is offered by Intelligence Committee members, that would allow foreigners who are applying for a visa, immigration or asylum to be vetted under Section 702.

“Expanding the warrantless surveillance of immigrants traveling to the United States is unnecessary and will only further exacerbate visa processing backlogs,” the immigration advocacy group wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO.

Tim Kaine, Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2016 and a leading voice in the party on foreign policy, delivered a rare rebuke of the Biden administration’s approach to Israel on Friday — the latest sign of a growing groundswell of discontent after a strike in Gaza killed seven aid workers.

The Virginia senator said in a statement that American’s current position toward its ally is “not working,” adding that Israeli’s deadly attack on World Central Kitchen workers this week “crystallizes the frustration that is at a boiling point.”

Kaine praised President Joe Biden for nudging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to open another border crossing from Israel to allow robust delivery of humanitarian aid. But this was an obvious solution that should have happened months ago.” He added that the Biden administration should prioritize giving Israel defensive weapons while “withholding bombs and other offensive weapons that can kill and wound civilians and humanitarian aid workers.”

His statement follows renewed pressure on Biden to get tougher from a longtime critic of the Israeli government, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Asked what Biden’s message to the Israeli leader should be, the prominent progressive and vocal Netanyahu critic replied to the “Pod Save America” podcast in an episode released Friday: “Mr. Netanyahu, I’m here to inform you that … if thousands of trucks do not get in to start feeding starving people — all military aid will cease. Have a nice day.”

“One day the president is angry at Netanyahu, the next day he’s very angry. And the next day is very, very angry, you know. So what?” added Sanders, in a pointed bit of criticism just two days after appearing with Biden at a White House drug pricing event. “You cannot continue to talk about your worries about [the] humanitarian situation in Gaza, and then give Netanyahu $10 billion or more bombs. You cannot do that. That is hypocritical.”

The $10 billion figure is a reference to the Senate-passed foreign aid package that Sanders recently opposed over its unconditional aid for Israel; it also included assistance for Ukraine and Taiwan. It faces an uncertain future in the GOP-led House as Speaker Mike Johnson mulls how to proceed.

Sanders, whose liberal supporters represent a constituency that Biden has struggled to win over ahead of the November election, acknowledged that many Palestinian Americans and young people are frustrated with Biden’s handling of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. But, he argued, voting for Donald Trump or a third-party candidate this fall would lead to worse outcomes.

“I say to that young person: Your gut feeling is right,” Sanders continued. “But all that I ask is, let’s not make a horrible situation even worse. Trump will be worse on that issue, let alone every other issue.”

Sanders, who ran against Biden in Democrats’ 2020 presidential primary, said he’s “working day and night” to move the president on Israel. He urged frustrated young voters to help out progressives — like Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) — who’ve faced attacks from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in their competitive primaries.

“Support the many many good progressive candidates who are today under assault from AIPAC and other super PACs out there,” Sanders advised young progressives.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has a long to-do list in the coming weeks, from the impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to lapsing surveillance authorities to foreign aid.

In a dear colleague letter released Friday, Schumer said senators will be sworn in as jurors for the Mayorkas trial on Wednesday. He added that “your presence next week is essential,” nodding to the possibility Democrats move to quickly dismiss the trial, which only requires a simple majority-threshold vote.

Schumer also said he’s spoken to Speaker Mike Johnson on foreign aid and “I believe that he understands the threat of further delaying” the Senate-passed package, which includes billions in funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as humanitarian assistance. Johnson has not committed to moving on the Senate bill and has floated alternative paths for foreign aid, and his timeline for any floor vote is unclear.

“It is a matter of the highest urgency that Speaker Johnson and House Leadership put the Senate’s bipartisan supplemental package on the House floor, because I am confident that if he puts it on the floor, it will pass,” the majority leader wrote.

Plus, the Senate leader said his chamber “must be ready to act quickly on a bipartisan basis” once the House passes legislation reauthorizing the controversial surveillance authority, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, ahead of an April 19 lapse. House GOP leaders have struggled to build consensus around a reauthorization bill, amid party infighting.

And Schumer floated possible action to rebuild the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, though he noted quick movement would require “bipartisan cooperation.” Schumer also mentioned reauthorizing legislation on the Federal Aviation Administration before a May 10 deadline. Other possible activity includes expanding the Child Tax Credit, action on the House-passed TikTok legislation, rail safety legislation and cannabis banking, among other areas.

The House Freedom Caucus signaled Friday that they’re open to giving federal funds to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, but they have a few significant conditions.

The conservative hardliners’ caveats include: They want the Biden administration to reverse course on its pause on new export terminal permits for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and for any spending to be fully offset by cuts elsewhere. Notably, Speaker Mike Johnson had recently floated a proposal to link long-stalled Ukraine aid with easing that same energy policy.

Meanwhile, Biden is preparing to visit the site of the collapsed bridge on Friday, and Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young asked congressional leaders to authorize “a 100 percent Federal cost share” in a Friday letter.

While federal funding to help rebuild the bridge has gotten bipartisan backing, the Freedom Caucus’ position shows the challenges ahead as Congress mulls its response. Johnson wouldn’t necessarily need those votes to pass a spending bill, assuming widespread Democratic support, but he could be wary of further angering his right flank, particularly with a pending effort to boot him from the speakership.

And it’s not just Freedom Caucus Republicans who’ve cautioned against a hasty federal response to the Baltimore tragedy. Many GOP lawmakers have urged that officials exhaust existing federal pots of money before considering new spending.

“If it proves necessary to appropriate taxpayer money to get one of America’s busiest ports back online, Congress should ensure it is fully offset and that burdensome regulations … are waived,” the Freedom Caucus position reads, pointing to various environmental and labor rules.

The group also demanded pursuit of “maximum liability from the foreign shipping companies upfront” and said the Biden administration’s LNG export permitting pause “must be lifted” before Congress considers any emergency funds.

House Democrats are vowing to put abortion rights at the center of congressional campaigns in the aftermath of a Florida court ruling upholding a strict abortion law and allowing a ballot referendum.

Their campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, argues in a new memo obtained first by POLITICO that abortion measures on the ballot in states with competitive House races “further guarantees that reproductive freedom will remain a driving issue for voters this November, putting vulnerable House Republicans and GOP candidates on the hook for their anti-abortion and anti-freedom positions.”

The DCCC is zeroing in on races in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and New York — all states that could have an abortion measure on the ballot — with 18 races where Democrats are playing defense or hope to flip GOP-held districts. The party sees abortion as a potential swing-seat turnout booster, pointing to purple-district Rep. Sharice Davids’ (D-Kan.) 2022 win after an abortion referendum was on her state’s ballot and increased turnout in Ohio last cycle.

They’re also hoping to hitch vulnerable Republican incumbents to the GOP’s attempts to restrict abortion at a federal level, such as some House Republicans’ efforts to introduce national abortion bans.

“As ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights keep this issue at the forefront of voters’ minds, vulnerable Republicans will have to face the consequences for their unpopular anti-abortion, anti-freedom records,” the DCCC writes.

CLARIFICATION: This report has been updated to specify when in 2022 Kansas’ abortion referendum took place.

A conservative group is dropping millions of dollars hitting Sen. Jon Tester over his immigration record, just days before the Montana Democrat may have to weigh in on the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

One Nation, a group aligned with Senate GOP leadership, is beginning a $15.2 million ad buy on Friday which will run through the summer. The first ad, running statewide on TV and digital, goes after Tester’s past statements and votes on immigration, criticizing his positions on “amnesty,” the border wall and sanctuary cities.

The issue advocacy ad says “tell Sen. Tester, stop supporting Biden’s border disaster,” citing Tester’s past votes on immigration, including the bipartisan Gang of Eight immigration bill. In a statement, One Nation President Steve Law said Tester’s votes “led to the crisis at our Southern border.”

“Senator Tester has repeatedly voted to fund sanctuary cities and grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. He even voted to allow President Biden to stop building the border wall. Senator Jon Tester needs to stop supporting President Biden’s border disaster,” Law said.

One Nation’s big reservation is a spring and summer bridge for Republicans to $48 million in reservations from GOP groups beginning in September. The GOP has largely coalesced around veteran Tim Sheehy after Rep. Matt Rosendale exited the primary.

Senate Majority PAC, a key Democratic group, reserved $27 million in ads in the state as well — signs that the race is likely to go well over $100 million.

Tester is a prodigious fundraiser, and his seat is perhaps Republicans best pickup opportunity in the tight battle for Senate control. With the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Democrats essentially need to hold the rest of their incumbent seats to keep the majority.

One Nation’s massive ad buy focuses on a crucial issue, both for Tester and the GOP. The House is expected to send over its impeachment articles for Mayorkas next week, and Tester has said he will support dismissing a trial because he believes Congress has other more important priorities, like the bipartisan border security deal rejected by the GOP.

In fact, Tester has said in recent interviews he’d like to see a revote on that bill, which married border security and foreign aid and was negotiated by Republicans before former President Donald Trump lobbied the GOP to reject the deal.

The One Nation ad urges Tester to instead support the Secure the Border Act, Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) Senate companion bill to the House-passed HR 2 legislation, which would restart border wall construction and reinstate the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy. That bill had no Democratic support in the House.

The Israeli airstrike that killed seven humanitarian workers in Gaza this week hasn’t prompted the White House to change course on unconditional aid. But congressional Democrats may be a different story.

Democratic lawmakers were growing more vocal about the need for concrete policy shifts by Israel — and clearer red lines that would put its access to unrestricted U.S. aid at risk — even before the World Central Kitchen workers were killed. After President Joe Biden urged “accountability” and chided Israel for the attack, however, members of his party are starting to sound their own alarms.

Asked if U.S. policy toward Israel should be revisited, close Biden ally Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told CNN on Thursday that “I think we’re at that point.”

“The challenge is to make it clear that we support the Israeli people, that we want to and will continue to have a strong and close relationship with Israel, but that the tactics by which the current prime minister is making these decisions don’t reflect the best values of Israel or the United States,” Coons said.

Coons’ office, asked for comment on his Thursday remarks, noted that he floated the idea of conditioning aid in February if Israel mounted “a full-scale ground campaign into Rafah” without concern for civilian lives. But his comments underscore increasing Democratic frustration with how Israel is conducting its efforts to counter the terrorist group Hamas.

If more Democratic foreign policy hands and Israel defenders join Coons in calling for a shift in U.S. posture toward Israel, that would spell serious political problems for Biden’s multi-billion-dollar emergency foreign aid plan — which has stalled on the Hill for months. That’s because, while the Senate passed its own plan to direct aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with 70 votes, Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to announce how the House will proceed beyond resisting the Senate-passed bill.

Johnson’s desire to pass his own legislation, however, raises the prospect of a new nightmare scenario for the foreign aid plan. A growing number of House Democrats are already wary of rubber-stamping new aid to Israel without conditions, and the aid workers’ killing may make it harder for Johnson to get the scores of Democratic votes he’d need to pass a broader package.

“A lot of us are looking for … what the White House can do around conditions,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said in an interview. “Because I do think there are a number of people who might have a hard time just voting for the Senate bill as is, especially given what just happened. And I know the White House is aware of that.”

Johnson could take up separate bills on Israel and Ukraine aid, relying on largely GOP votes for the first and Democratic votes for the second. But that risks leaving him short of the Republican support he’d need to pass Ukraine aid, since assistance for Israel is the higher priority for many in his party. When the House took up $300 million for Ukraine in September — a small fraction of the $60 billion that’s now on the table — 117 House Republicans voted no.

Not to mention that if Johnson holds separate votes on Israel and Ukraine aid, he’ll still have to reconcile his work with the Senate’s combined legislation.

In short, Republicans who want to avoid a Democratic push for new conditions on Israel may find that their best chance to do so is what Johnson wants to avoid: a House vote on the Senate foreign aid package.

And frustration with Israel has gone beyond Democrats who’ve argued for months for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Even former President Donald Trump conceded during a Wednesday interview with Hugh Hewitt that “Israel is absolutely losing the PR war.”

Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen is reserving an eye-popping $14 million in fall ads for her reelection bid, an early move to shore up her standing in what will be one of the nation’s toughest battlegrounds.

The first-term Democrat’s big ad buy will start in late July and run through the election, meaning she will be on air to the tune of roughly $1 million a week on average during the campaign’s final stretch. She also released her first ads of the cycle this week.

Rosen’s early reservation is a sign of just how competitive Nevada will be up and down the ballot and comes alongside a $36 million ad reservation from Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The Silver State will once again be a crucial presidential contest, and Nevada’s House races are competitive almost every election cycle.

Stewart Boss, Rosen’s campaign manager, said she is taking advantage of a competitive GOP primary: “While her extreme Republican opponents are busy trying to out-MAGA each other, Jacky Rosen is reaching Nevada voters for the general election.”

The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee is supporting veteran Sam Brown in the race, but he first must dispatch a crowded primary field, including former state Rep. Jim Marchant, former ambassador to Iceland Jeffrey Gunter and 2022 lieutenant governor candidate Tony Grady.

Democrats have generally had the edge in recent Nevada Senate races, but Rosen is bracing for an exceedingly tight race. The GOP took the governor’s office in 2022 and nearly knocked off Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), who won her second term by less than one percentage point.

“She’s going to need it,” said Mike Berg, a spokesperson for the NRSC, of Rosen’s ad buy. “The Nevada Senate race was moved to toss-up by the Cook Political Report yesterday because polls have consistently shown that, despite her incumbency advantage, Jacky Rosen is polling in the high thirties and low forties. That’s a dangerous spot.”