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Wednesday, February 13, 2008
(Updated) FISA Fight Moves to U.S. House
UPDATE: Also see this guest post on the national blog Down With Tyranny about FISA by NM-01 Congressional candidate Martin Heinrich.
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I'm not going to regurgitate all the horrors we've witnessed with Sen. Jay Rockefeller and a bunch of other Senate Dems totally capitulating to Bush's demands on warrantless surveillence and telecom immunity. Most of you know this issue as well or much better than I do. Instead, I'll recommend that you read this post by mcjoan at Daily Kos and take action NOW to urge Dem House leaders Pelosi and Hoyer and other Reps to reject the provisions contained in the Senate version of the FISA bill and stick with the tougher protections of the House version -- the so-called RESTORE Act, which does NOT include retroactive immunity for lawbreaking telecoms. Just clicks away.
Here are the Senators who voted for Sen. Chris Dodd's amendment to strip telecom immunity from the Senate's FISA bill:
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Casey (D-PA)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Murray (D-WA)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Tester (D-MT)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
Here are the fear-impaired Dem Senators who voted AGAINST Dodd's amendment:
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Jim Webb (D-VA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Hillary Clinton wasn't present for the vote on the Dodd amendment.
On the final Senate vote on the entire FISA bill, which passed by a margin of 68-29 these Senators voted Nay:
| NAYs ---29 | ||
| Akaka (D-HI) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) |
Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) |
Menendez (D-NJ) Murray (D-WA) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Wyden (D-OR) |
| Not Voting - 3 | ||
| Clinton (D-NY) | Graham (R-SC) | Obama (D-IL) |
February 13, 2008 at 12:39 PM in Civil Liberties, Corporatism, Terrorism | Permalink
Comments
Very happy to see that our Senator Bingaman was on our side on this.
Posted by: bg | Feb 13, 2008 1:22:58 PM
Now how is it that Obama can be present for the vote for Dodd's amendment, but not be present for the final vote on the bill?
Not that it would have made a difference, but this was one of the big ones, I would have felt better if he had managed to make the vote.
Posted by: | Feb 13, 2008 3:33:10 PM
Because it didn't make any difference at that point and he's running for president and had events scheduled. Not hard to understand if you think about it. The point is he voted against telecom immunity while many other Democrats did not.
Posted by: Old Dem | Feb 13, 2008 4:56:28 PM
I have been watching this on C-SPAN closely, the crap the Republics are using to justify immunity would be comical if it weren't so disastrous to Democracy. One that stands out is that they are afraid of how financially devastating to the telecoms it would be. Like its their duty to protect profit over the Constitution. The Dem's that voted for this need some serious Progressive challengers come reelection time. Bottom line is this is about protecting Bu$h/Cheney and has little to do with the telecoms.
Posted by: VP | Feb 13, 2008 5:30:08 PM
Old Dem:
It was a rhetorical question. I understand what the claims will be about why he didn't make the vote.
How about this, though: While he says that, yes, telecom immunity would be a bad thing...it's not bad enough for him to risk taking a stand on the overall bill and being accused as being an obstacle to the "War on Teahrr", a war that we all know is generally bullshit.
So please forgive my cynicism on the matter. I voted for Obama. I'll support him in the general elections. But the politics of avoidance has to end sometime. How's that for hopeless optimism?
A more interesting set of votes came from Dianne Feinstein and Debbie Stabenow...votes for telecom immunity, but against the bill as a whole. Very strange.
Posted by: < | Feb 13, 2008 9:18:58 PM
However we look at it the fact remains that the majority of Senators in office voted to protect private profits over the U.S. Constitution. They should ALL be impeached.
Posted by: coyote | Feb 14, 2008 2:44:07 PM
