WASHINGTON >> An intensive drive by right-wing Republicans in Congress to vilify the FBI with charges of political bias has imperiled a program allowing spy agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance on foreign targets, sapping support for a premier intelligence tool and amplifying demands for stricter limits.

The once-secret program — created after the 9/11 attacks and described by intelligence officials as crucial to stopping overseas hackers, spy services and terrorists — has long faced resistance by Democrats concerned that it could trample on Americans’ civil liberties. But the law authorizing it is set to expire in December, and opposition among Republicans, who have historically championed it, has grown as the GOP has stepped up its attacks on the FBI, taking a page from former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

“There’s no way we’re going to be for reauthorizing that in its current form — no possible way,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a key ally of Trump’s who is leading a special House investigation into the “weaponization” of government against conservatives. “We’re concerned about surveillance, period.”

At issue is a program that allows the government to collect — on domestic soil and without a warrant — the communications of targeted foreigners abroad, including when those people are interacting with Americans. Leaders of both parties have warned the Biden administration that Congress will not renew the law that legalized it, known as Section 702, without changes to prevent federal agents from freely searching the email, phone and other electronic records of Americans in touch with surveilled foreigners.

Since the program was last extended in 2018, the GOP’s approach to law enforcement and data collection has undergone a dramatic transformation. Disdain for the agencies that benefit from the warrantless surveillance program has moved into the party mainstream, particularly in the House, where Republicans assert that the FBI’s investigations of Trump were biased and complain of a broader plot by the government to persecute conservatives for their political beliefs. They argue that federal law enforcement agencies cannot be trusted with Americans’ records, and should be prevented from accessing them.

Congress created Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2008, and has renewed the program twice since, largely thanks to the overwhelming support of Republican lawmakers. But significant turnover on Capitol Hill has brought a new generation of Republicans less protective of Washington’s post-9/11 counterterrorism powers, and about half of House Republicans have never cast a vote on it.