Story highlights The two senators lobbied party leaders to remove the provision from the bill

They plan to renew their effort to kill it during the next funding fight

(CNN) The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee are furious at appropriators for inserting a provision into the must-pass spending bill -- at the White House's request -- that they say would strip Congress' authority to direct how the intelligence agencies spend their funds.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, and the committee's top Democrat, Mark Warner of Virginia, said they were blindsided by the push, and they argued that the change would make it harder for lawmakers to oversee moves by an intelligence community that operates in secret.

Behind the scenes, the two senators lobbied party leaders to remove the provision from the bill to reopen the government -- and they plan to renew their effort to kill the provision during the next funding fight in three weeks, sources said.

Warner said the issue appeared to originate as an "internal squabble" in the House and there's a disagreement over "how problematic" it is.

Read More