Senate passes spy bill with telecom immunity - The Crypt's Blog - Politico.com

An attempt to strip lawsuit immunity for telecom firms that helped the government tap phone calls fell well short in the Senate Tuesday, leaving liberal Democrats on the losing side of what they believe is a fundamental civil liberties debate.

Only 31 senators — all Democrats — voted to take away retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies facing lawsuits over wiretaps carried out under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Sixty-seven senators — a mix of Republicans and Democrats — voted against the amendment.

With the immunity provision intact, the Senate voted late Tuesday afternoon to pass the bill, 68-29, setting up a tough negotiation with the House, which opposed telecom lawsuit immunity. The Senate vote amounts to a major victory for the White House, which had threatened to veto the bill if it did not protect telecom companies that aided spy agencies with wiretapping.

The vote also provided an opportunity to showcase the key differences on national security between presidential candidates, as Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) voted against immunity for telecoms, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), voted to keep immunity in the bill. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) did not show up for the vote. All three candidates were in the Washington area Tuesday morning for the region's three primaries.

Senate passage will set up a contentious conference committee negotiation with the House, which voted against retroactive lawsuit immunity. The Bush administration has warned that it would veto any FISA bill that does not grant immunity.



Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), voted against the bill, and expressed his frustration with the White House push for telecom immunity, which he called "amnesty."

"If the Senate had voted today to reject amnesty, we would have sent a message that no one is above accountability and no one is above the law," Reid said. "If we had rejected amnesty, we would have sent a message that fighting terrorism does not require us to sacrifice our fundamental rights. I was disappointed that the Senate rejected today’s amendments opposing immunity."

The immunity vote was a critical issue for many Democrats, who believe telecom firms that helped the government carry out warrantless wiretaps should at least have a day in court. The Bush administration, almost all congressional Republicans and several moderate Democrats, believe that telecom firms should not be punished for responding to the federal government's national security demands.

Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said approval of the amendment would have allowed lawsuits to go forward and "disclose our most vital means of collecting information" in tracking terrorists. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), one of the lead sponsors of the amendment, said "it's a dangerous precedent to grant retroactive immunity."

Moderate Democrats like Jim Webb of Virginia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska voted with Republicans on the amendment.

Republicans happily embraced what they saw as another bipartisan victory in the Senate _ coming a week after the economic stimulus compromise cleared the Senate with a wide bipartisan margin.

"The legislation we approved respects the privacy and constitutional rights of Americans while also updating FISA so our intelligence community can effectively monitor terrorists," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

The above article is wrong about one thing. Obama did not vote. I read in my local newspaper he did not vote but this article claims that he did, I guess for their own reason.

How the Senate voted . . .

Sen. Daniel Akaka [D, HI] Nay
Sen. Lamar Alexander [R, TN] Aye
Sen. Wayne Allard [R, CO] Aye
Sen. John Barrasso [R, WY] Aye
Sen. Max Baucus [D, MT] Aye
Sen. B. Evan Bayh [D, IN] Aye
Sen. Robert Bennett [R, UT] Aye
Sen. Joseph Biden [D, DE] Nay
Sen. Jeff Bingaman [D, NM] Nay
Sen. Christopher Bond [R, MO] Aye
Sen. Barbara Boxer [D, CA] Nay
Sen. Sherrod Brown [D, OH] Nay
Sen. Samuel Brownback [R, KS] Aye
Sen. Jim Bunning [R, KY] Aye
Sen. Richard Burr [R, NC] Aye
Sen. Robert Byrd [D, WV] Nay
Sen. Maria Cantwell [D, WA] Nay
Sen. Benjamin Cardin [D, MD] Nay
Sen. Thomas Carper [D, DE] Aye
Sen. Robert Casey [D, PA] Aye
Sen. C. Saxby Chambliss [R, GA] Aye
Sen. Hillary Clinton [D, NY] Abstain
Sen. Thomas Coburn [R, OK] Aye
Sen. Thad Cochran [R, MS] Aye
Sen. Norm Coleman [R, MN] Aye
Sen. Susan Collins [R, ME] Aye
Sen. Kent Conrad [D, ND] Aye
Sen. Bob Corker [R, TN] Aye
Sen. John Cornyn [R, TX] Aye
Sen. Larry Craig [R, ID] Aye
Sen. Michael Crapo [R, ID] Aye
Sen. Jim DeMint [R, SC] Aye
Sen. Christopher Dodd [D, CT] Nay
Sen. Elizabeth Dole [R, NC] Aye
Sen. Pete Domenici [R, NM] Aye
Sen. Byron Dorgan [D, ND] Nay
Sen. Richard Durbin [D, IL] Nay
Sen. John Ensign [R, NV] Aye
Sen. Michael Enzi [R, WY] Aye
Sen. Russell Feingold [D, WI] Nay
Sen. Dianne Feinstein [D, CA] Nay
Sen. Lindsey Graham [R, SC] Abstain
Sen. Charles Grassley [R, IA] Aye
Sen. Judd Gregg [R, NH] Aye
Sen. Charles Hagel [R, NE] Aye
Sen. Thomas Harkin [D, IA] Nay
Sen. Orrin Hatch [R, UT] Aye
Sen. Kay Hutchison [R, TX] Aye
Sen. James Inhofe [R, OK] Aye
Sen. Daniel Inouye [D, HI] Aye
Sen. John Isakson [R, GA] Aye
Sen. Tim Johnson [D, SD] Aye
Sen. Edward Kennedy [D, MA] Nay
Sen. John Kerry [D, MA] Nay
Sen. Amy Klobuchar [D, MN] Nay
Sen. Herbert Kohl [D, WI] Aye
Sen. Jon Kyl [R, AZ] Aye
Sen. Mary Landrieu [D, LA] Aye
Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D, NJ] Nay
Sen. Patrick Leahy [D, VT] Nay
Sen. Carl Levin [D, MI] Nay
Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT] Aye
Sen. Blanche Lincoln [D, AR] Aye
Sen. Richard Lugar [R, IN] Aye
Sen. Mel Martinez [R, FL] Aye
Sen. John McCain [R, AZ] Aye
Sen. Claire McCaskill [D, MO] Aye
Sen. Mitch McConnell [R, KY] Aye
Sen. Robert Menendez [D, NJ] Nay
Sen. Barbara Mikulski [D, MD] Aye
Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R, AK] Aye
Sen. Patty Murray [D, WA] Nay
Sen. Ben Nelson [D, NE] Aye
Sen. Bill Nelson [D, FL] Aye
Sen. Barack Obama [D, IL] Abstain
Sen. Mark Pryor [D, AR] Aye
Sen. John Reed [D, RI] Nay
Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] Nay
Sen. Pat Roberts [R, KS] Aye
Sen. John Rockefeller [D, WV] Aye
Sen. Ken Salazar [D, CO] Aye
Sen. Bernard Sanders [I, VT] Nay
Sen. Charles Schumer [D, NY] Nay
Sen. Jefferson Sessions [R, AL] Aye
Sen. Richard Shelby [R, AL] Aye
Sen. Gordon Smith [R, OR] Aye
Sen. Olympia Snowe [R, ME] Aye
Sen. Arlen Specter [R, PA] Aye
Sen. Debbie Ann Stabenow [D, MI] Nay
Sen. Ted Stevens [R, AK] Aye
Sen. John Sununu [R, NH] Aye
Sen. Jon Tester [D, MT] Nay
Sen. John Thune [R, SD] Aye
Sen. David Vitter [R, LA] Aye
Sen. George Voinovich [R, OH] Aye
Sen. John Warner [R, VA] Aye
Sen. Jim Webb [D, VA] Aye
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [D, RI] Aye
Rep. Roger Wicker [R, MS-1] Aye
Sen. Ron Wyden [D, OR] Nay

Interesting thing though, apparently all wiretap evidence has to be placed in its proper context. This means that whole conversations would have to be played in court. For that reason, I suspect it shan't be so popular.