FISA vote today

- Chris Dodd last Friday

According to the Senate website, the schedule for this afternoon is as follows (Note: all are in ET):

2:00 p.m.: Convene and begin a period of morning business.

3:00 p.m.: Resume consideration of S.2248, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance bill.

8:30 p.m.: Proceed to the House of Representatives for the president's State of the Union address.


First up in terms of voting will be the cloture vote that Sen. McConnell moved on Friday, regarding closing debate on S.2248. If the "no" votes take it, then there is a subsequent cloture vote to allow for a 30-day extension of the PAA, as I understand it, so that both the House and Senate can take time to go through the materials on NSA domestic spying that the Bush Administration finally turned over to the House Intel committee late last week. (Piles and piles of paper, which they have been pouring over all weekend, I hear.)

If that fails, then we are potentially back to debate on S.2248 and all of the proposed amendments that various groups have been trying to put forward to improve the bill -- or change it in some way, depending on the amendment. And we are again facing the potential of a Dodd filibuster, among other efforts to block wholesale passage of telecom immunity and basket warrants, among other constitutional and legal problems with the bill.

Or Sen. Reid could remove the bill from consideration altogether if the 30-day extension is not agreed to, the PAA would expire on Friday, and we would then go back to the FISA bill as it stood before this whole chain of idiocy began -- and we could start fresh with the House RESTORE Act as a base for negotiations potentially. Or any number of other scenarios that can be spun out from there. - FDL

Contact your reps to oppose S. 2248 and support the Feingold-Dodd amendment to strip retroactive amnesty.