Speaker Mike Johnson is eyeing a floor vote on a revised spy powers bill next week, four people familiar with the discussion told POLITICO.

The move would almost certainly renew lingering tensions within the House GOP over what to do about Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Act (FISA), after deep divisions forced Republicans to punt the issue late last year. Johnson’s handling of how to reauthorize surveillance powers also led to widespread criticism of his leadership.

The new plan isn’t final, the people cautioned, noting that the bill is still being negotiated and could fall apart because of GOP divisions.

The bill under discussion would largely align with legislation rolled out last year by the House Intelligence Committee, according to three people, who noted that there would be some changes. Negotiators want to roll out legislation as soon as Thursday, one of those people said, and move it through the Rules Committee on Tuesday.

Judiciary Committee members and other privacy hawks would then be allowed to offer amendments that would require a warrant before searching for Americans’ information collected under the program. Section 702 authority is meant to target non-citizens abroad but has sparked controversy because of its ability to sweep in American information.

Republicans on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees revived a working group last month after leadership requested that they try to work out the differences between two bills to renew the surveillance authorities. Leadership also added its own members to the group. The existence of the working group, and its revival, was first reported by POLITICO.

Congress technically has until mid-April to decide what to do about Section 702. But privacy hawks say Johnson would prefer to move sooner rather than later. And those lawmakers are worried that if they don’t move quickly, intelligence community allies could try to attach a relatively straightforward reauthorization to next month’s government funding deadline, that wouldn’t include the sweeping new limits they are pushing for.

Intelligence and Judiciary Committee Republicans spent months talking behind the scenes last year, but ultimately each panel drafted its own bill on 702 reauthorization.

Beyond differences over warrant requirement for U.S. person searches — the Judiciary bill required one, the Intelligence legislation did not — the two bills differed widely in scope. The Judiciary bill proposed a sweeping spy powers overhaul that would go well beyond just Section 702. Critics argued last year that the Judiciary bill would effectively neuter the 702 program, rendering it unworkable.

Those divisions, particularly over the warrant requirement, haven’t been resolved.

“I think we’re really going to have to do something sooner rather than later,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a member of the working group, said in a brief interview. He added that lawmakers are “still working.”

Senate Republicans and their allies are planning a massive TV ad buy in Ohio as they try to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and its allied group American Crossroads, are booking nearly $83 million worth of air time this fall, according to plans shared first with POLITICO. This is the second state where the groups have reservations after Montana.

Ohio and Montana are the top two GOP targets on the Senate map in 2024. Three Republicans are in a heated March 19 primary to take on Brown: businessman Bernie Moreno, state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

SLF will invest $57.5 million from Sept. 3 until Election Day. American Crossroads will spend $25 million from Sept. 17 to Oct. 21.

“Ohio was an important win for us in 2022 and we feel good about our prospects in 2024,” said Senate Leadership Fund President and CEO Steven Law. “Democrat Sherrod Brown has spent decades in DC pushing his liberal agenda while ignoring a growing conservative constituency back home. Now, these voters are ready to send Brown packing.”

The NRSC is staying neutral in the primary, and its leaders believe any of the three could take down Brown.

Moreno has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). Moreno and Dolan can self-fund, and LaRose has a super PAC that went negative on Moreno this week.

The Club for Growth made its first spend in the race, dropping some $850,000 for Moreno, according to AdImpact. That spot touts his endorsement from Trump.

SLF’s Democratic counterpart, the Senate Majority PAC, laid down ad buys late last month in Nevada and Montana.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin is calling on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from a case focused on former President Donald Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 ballot.

The nation’s highest court will hear oral arguments Thursday in Donald J. Trump v. Norma Anderson, a Colorado case about whether Trump engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6 and, under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, could no longer seek the presidency.

“Given questions surrounding his wife’s involvement, Justice Thomas should recuse himself so there’s no question of bias,” Durbin posted on social media Wednesday.

His wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, had been called to testify before the Jan. 6 Committee behind closed doors. She had exchanged texts with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows related to an effort to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.

Fourteenth Amendment cases in both Colorado and Maine have led to debate over the applicability of the insurrection clause and thrust the Supreme Court into potentially deciding whether or not Trump can remain on the ballot for the 2024 presidential election.

Thomas has a track record of recusal from cases touching the Jan. 6 insurrection. Back in October 2023, Thomas bowed out of a case about the Jan. 6 Committee’s power to investigate.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he’s open “in principle” to a national-security-only aid package if the Senate is able to pass one, while stressing he still wants to review the details.

“We have to move forward in a comprehensive way to address our national security issues,” he said at a weekly press conference Wednesday.

Jeffries added that “several Republicans who are not in leadership” have expressed an openness toward working with House Democrats on “a comprehensive national security package” with funds for Israel, Ukraine and allies in the Indo-Pacific like Taiwan, as well as assistance for Palestinians.

He didn’t name any of the Republicans, but several centrists have expressed being open to some sort of stand-alone aid package. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Tuesday he was pushing for a Ukraine-only aid package: “There’s a handful of us pushing for military aid. We might not be able to do all the other stuff, but let’s do military aid,” he said.

And Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), another moderate Republican, said Wednesday he was working on a new national security package with Democrats that would include funding for Ukraine and the border, among other priorities.

“It’s going to be my bill and I’m working with a few Democrats on it,” Fitzpatrick said, adding he hadn’t yet spoken with Jeffries about his legislation. “It will be a combination of things that are urgent and need to be addressed right now.”

The comments come as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated he plans to call a Wednesday vote on a national security package without border security provisions — if the vote to advance the broader deal fails, as expected.

Jeffries indicated his preference is to advance what he called “a comprehensive national security legislative package” once the House returns next week.

With months of negotiations on the toxic border issue certain to end in failure Wednesday, Senate Republicans are indicating they might be willing to advance a more straightforward aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to force votes on a foreign assistance package with border security policies Wednesday afternoon, which Republicans say they will reject. Then Schumer will move to a package without the border component — which will also include the Fend Off Fentanyl Act.

“First Republicans said they would only do Ukraine and Israel and humanitarian aid with border, then they said they would not do it with border. Well we’re gonna give them both options,” Schumer told reporters on Wednesday morning.

Ahead of those votes, the GOP is meeting to debate the path forward. Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he will vote to advance the borderless supplemental and predicts there will be 60 votes to move it.

“The whip is doing a check right now. I’m optimistic,” Wicker said.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said in an interview that they’re “trying to determine whether or not Schumer will allow amendment votes.” He added that “process is going to matter.”

Illustrating that point, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said he would vote to advance the border-free bill provided there was an agreement to vote on amendments. Schumer said he was committed to a “fair and open-ended process.”

Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released text of the latest attempt at a supplemental spending bill on Wednesday. The language includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and humanitarian assistance and excludes any border funding or policy changes.

“After demanding border policy changes in exchange for passing aid to Ukraine, Republicans are poised to reject the very thing they insisted upon for months,” Murray wrote in a statement. “But far too much hangs in the balance to give up now.”

A two-week recess is scheduled to start this weekend, and any one senator can drag out the foreign assistance package; several conservative senators are likely to do so over opposition to Ukraine funding. But there’s also a possibility Republicans are ready to move on after the disastrous border negotiations, a failed House vote on Israel aid and looming government funding deadlines.

“If we have a full amendment and a debate process, then I’m okay with that. But if (Schumer) is gonna try to just deny any opportunity to offer amendments and jam it through them, I’m not gonna support it,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Over in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s waiting to “see what the Senate does.”

“We spend a lot of time on the House side of waiting, awaiting the Senate’s action,” Johnson told reporters. “And it’s frustrating sometimes but that’s the way the process works.”

Ursula Perano and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to specify whether he made a personal plea for Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to leave his hospital bed to oppose the ultimately unsuccessful impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“He made it clear to me that it was important for him to be present to cast a vote against the sham impeachment,” Jeffries said at his weekly press conference, in response to a question about a specific ask to Green.

Jeffries also said his party didn’t advise House Republicans about their attendance situation. “It’s not our responsibility to let House Republicans know which members will or will not be present on the House floor,” he said.

The impeachment effort against Mayorkas ultimately failed 214-216, with a handful of GOP nos joining all Democrats. Republicans have vowed to try again once Majority Leader Steve Scalise returns from cancer treatments.

Mitch McConnell essentially declared the border security-foreign aid package dead on Tuesday, telling reporters “we have no real chance here to make a law.”

The Senate minority leader stressed there are parts of the national security supplemental — which included border policy changes as well as aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — that he believes are worth revisiting. On Tuesday morning, he was still stumping for Ukraine aid on the floor.

But after four months of border policy negotiations, which McConnell had personally called for and repeatedly supported, the GOP leader said the deal lacks support in his conference. And he noted staunch opposition from House Republican leadership.

“We had a very robust discussion about whether or not this product could ever become law,” McConnell said after the Senate GOP’s Tuesday lunch. “And it’s been made a pretty clear to us by the speaker that it will not become law.”

The remarks come one day before Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to hold a procedural vote to begin debate on the bill. Schumer, who spoke shortly after McConnell broke the news, said Senate Democrats expressed “anger” and “deep disappointment” over the Republican stance at their Tuesday lunch.

“Leader McConnell and the Republican Conference did a 180-degree reversal,” Schumer said. “They’re quaking at the knees in fear of Donald Trump.”

The question is now whether the Senate will go back to a standalone Ukraine-Israel-Taiwan aid package. The White House originally requested that package last fall, along with border funding, before Republicans demanded significant border policy changes be added to the deal in exchange for Ukraine aid. McConnell on Tuesday said Democratic leadership should “repackage” those foreign assistance provisions.

Schumer would not say whether he’d go back to a bill focusing on just Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan aid.

The House failed to pass a clean $17.6 billion Israel aid bill on Tuesday as Congress struggles to find some vehicle that could clear critical money for foreign allies.

The measure to aid the U.S. ally in its war against Hamas went down 250-180, and was considered under an expedited procedure requiring two-thirds support. Nearly four dozen Democrats voted yes while more than a dozen Republicans opposed the measure.

The White House had derided it as a “cynical political maneuver,” as Republicans roundly reject a more comprehensive and bipartisan border security-foreign aid deal negotiated in the Senate.

“It’s just a political stunt by the Republicans and the speaker,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. “This political stuff does not include any humanitarian assistance.”

House lawmakers previously cleared an Israel aid bill in November — paired with cuts to the IRS — but the legislation failed to gain Senate traction.

“There’s no time for hesitation,” said Speaker Mike Johnson alongside Amir Ohana, speaker of the Israeli Knesset, on Tuesday. “History beckons us to act boldly and decisively to defend Israel and our own citizens.”

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), a former member of Democratic leadership, said he’s implored Johnson to place the bills providing foreign assistance on the floor individually. But he wants the Israel bill to include humanitarian aid for Gaza as well.

“I believe that there are 300 votes for Ukraine. There are 400 votes for Israel,” he said in an interview. “Not putting humanitarian aid in this bill is a despicable continuation of Republican policy, which says to the American people and the rest of the world: You’re on your own.”

Progressives also rejected the idea of supporting legislation without assistance for Palestinians.

“There’s no conditions on any aid and there’s horrific stuff going on,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “There’s no Ukraine aid in here. This is just a way for Speaker Johnson to try to change the discussion.”

What comes next: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) pitched a bill with a combination of Israel and Ukraine aid along with “countering China.”

“It would probably come back from the Senate, would be my guess,” he said in an interview.

In a statement Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reiterated his position that aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan should move alongside border security changes.