On Thursday, the United State Senate voted overwhelmingly to advance a legislative compromise on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, marking the beginning of the end of a fierce battle over civil liberties and national security that has been waged in the halls of Congress for more than three years.
In the end, only 15 U.S. Senators were willing to resort to procedural tactics as a last ditch effort to hold up the legislation. The list of those who voted against cloture included:
Joseph Biden, DE
Barbara Boxer, CA
Sherrod Brown, OH
Maria Cantwell, WA
Chris Dodd, CT
Dick Durbin, IL
Russ Feingold, WI
Tom Harkin, IA
John Kerry, MA
Frank Lautenberg, NJ
Patrick Leahy, VT
Robert Menendez, NJ
Bernie Sanders, VT
Chuck Schumer, NY
Ron Wyden, OR
“It’s the most embarrassing failure of the Democrats I’ve seen since 2006, other than the failure to vote to end the Iraq war,” said Russ Feingold. And as a Democrat I find this unbelievable as well. I’ve seen the list of Representatives who got big payouts from the telecom industry. The list of Senators will likely be forthcoming.
What this really proves is that no matter who is elected, liberal or conservative, it is up to the people to hold their feet to the fire and not forget what they have burdened us with when elections roll around. Unfortunately we have to bite our tongues and hold on to get the Republicans out… but we must still remember this vote and be aware of what we are going to do in the future.
