McConnell filed for cloture to cut off debate on FISA in an effort to block offering amendments to the base bill yesterday and today he was saying that they should only vote on the original bill. Oh, really? He is stonewalling the process so Bush can include the issue into his SOTU address and scare the American people. Offering amendments to bills are a pretty common practice in the Senate and they have even pissed off Jay Rockefeller.
Download Sen. Dodd backs up Sen. Reid and calls out this antagonistic approach by Mitch and tells us how ridiculous it is for a member on the committee which is responsible for the FISA bill NOT to be allowed to offer up an amendment...He also said that he can't wait for the day when Republicans offer up amendments to future bills...
Marcy Wheeler has some of Reid talking today:
There are amendments that will make this legislation better. Now that's in the eye of the beholder. We all understand that. But shouldn't the Senate have the ability to vote on those amendments?
I say to my friends that it doesn't matter what we try to do, we can't do it. It appears that the majority [sic?], the president, and the republicans want failure. They don't want a bill.
The GOP's conduct was insulting -- to the Democrats, to the American public, and to the Congress as a whole. So much so that Sen. Jay Rockefeller is saying that he will not vote for cloture on Monday.
Every Senator needs a phone call, especially the Democratic ones -- because cloture on Monday would be contrary to balancing fundamental questions of liberty against national security interests. This is important business. The contemptable way that the Republicans have treated this, brushing aside debate with a high-handed, "my way or no way" dismissiveness, echoes the Bush White House and ought to be publicly rebuked...read on
Contact numbers are below: Make some calls people!
Bayh
Carper
Inouye
Johnson
Landrieu
McCaskill
Mikulski
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Pryor
Salazar
Specter
