Watch the live Senate action on C-Span 2, and discuss it here.
PATRIOT Act motions may be made by Sen. Frist. The video streams for C-Span2 are here if you are not able to watch it on TV.
This diary is a followup to Land of Enchantment's current thread that gave an excellent roundup on the legislation that was debated and voted on earlier today.
Briefly, if the PATRIOT Act is brought up to the floor, then they will be discussing the so-called "conference committee report" of that legislation. A "cloture" vote (motion to end the debate) legislation failed on Friday, and Sen. Frist switched his vote to NAY so that he would be able to bring it up for another cloture invocation motion, an option which, one may predict, he will exercise today.
The motion to invoke cloture on the Defense appropriations bill, where ANWR drilling was mischievously injected has failed by a 56-44 vote, before Sen. Frist changed his vote for procedural reasons as mentioned above. More information and links to earlier votes will follow in an update.
Update [2005-12-21 13:23:45 by NeuvoLiberal]: The senate has gone into a
Quorum call following the failure of the cloture motion on the Defense spending measure. Predictably, the majority side is debating their next move, which could very well turn out to be, if some senators switch sides, another cloture motion on the same bill. We'll see what happens.
Update [2005-12-21 14:7:36 by NeuvoLiberal]: From the
Senate Calendar, it appears that the following measures will be discussed: "Conference Report to Accompany H.R.1815, the Department of Defense Authorization bill" and "Conference Report to Accompany H.R.3010, the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill" after the senate completes the proceedings on "Conference Report to Accompany H.R.2863, the Department of Defense Appropriations bill".
Update [2005-12-21 14:7:36 by NeuvoLiberal]: If and when the Senate takes up the PATRIOT Act, perhaps sometime later today, here is a brief background:
- the legislation on the floor is the conference report 109-333.
- a cloture motion on it was denied by a 52-47 vote on friday.
- the "senate version" with improved (but still not "perfect") provisions for civil liberties is S. 1389.
- Sens. Sununu and Leahy have put forward S. 2082 which proposes to extend the current act for 3 months so that a full debate can be held. That bill has 48 senators already on its side (sponsor+co-sponsors), and it appears that it will pass the senate, provided the GOP leadership permits it to be brought up for a vote. IMO, this is the right approach to take. If you'd like to contact your senators and get your opinion in, here is a link where you can find their contact info.
- Rep. Conyers has proposed sister legislation to S. 2082, namely H.R. 4506 in the house. The house may come back into session due to the developments on the defense bill, and so calling your Representative is also a good idea