The Senate confirmed Jay Clayton on Tuesday to serve as the nation’s director of national intelligence, approving him in a narrow party-line vote that Republicans hope will break a weeks-long stalemate over a lapsed surveillance authority. The 51-to-47 vote installs Clayton atop the intelligence community after a turbulent stretch that began when President Trump temporarily installed Bill Pulte, a housing official with no intelligence background, in the role earlier this year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told colleagues Monday he hoped Clayton’s confirmation would push lawmakers to stop blocking reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a warrantless surveillance tool that expired more than six weeks ago. Democrats had abandoned an earlier bipartisan deal to extend the program after Pulte’s appointment, and while they initially welcomed Clayton’s selection given his recent tenure as U.S. attorney in Manhattan, his confirmation process did little to ease their concerns.

During his appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 15, Clayton repeatedly declined to state plainly that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, saying only that Biden was certified as president — a stance that frustrated Democratic members. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the panel’s top Democrat, said Tuesday that while he was initially encouraged by the nomination, he came away from the process with serious doubts about whether Clayton would resist political pressure at critical moments.

Even with Clayton now confirmed, the path forward on the spy statute remains uncertain. The House is already on a five-week recess and is not expected back until late August, while the Senate is scheduled to leave town after next week and not return until mid-September, meaning any extension of Section 702 could remain stalled for weeks to come.