Senator Reid held a conference call with a number of bloggers today to catch us up to speed on Senate action in the waning days of the session. The first question out of the gates was Glenn Greenwald on
Specter's warrantless wiretapping legislation:
I asked him about the Specter bill -- specifically, what the Democrats' strategy was for preventing its enactment (I wanted to wait until the second question but I couldn't contain myself).
Sen. Reid stated flatly and unequivocally -- and I'm paraphrasing -- that the Specter bill was not going anywhere, that it would not be enacted. When I asked him how he could be so certain about that -- I asked where the 51 votes against the Specter bill would come from in light of the support it enjoys the support of both the White House and at least some of the ostensibly "independent" Republicans, along with the fact that all 10 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted for it (at least voted to send it to the Senate floor) -- Sen. Reid explained that our system does not allow every bill to be enacted simply because a majority supports it, that Senate rules allow minority rights to be protected, clearly alluding to a filibuster.
I will confirm Reid's assurance that the Specter bill was not going to be passed. He said "we're not going to let that happen." When Glenn pressed him further about the possibility of a filibuster, he said that he didn't think it would be necessary, but again, they would not let the bill become law.
Given the already expressed bipartisan opposition to the Specter legisation in the Senate, it seems that a filibuster will be unnecessary. Today's Armed Services Committee rebuke of Bush on the detainee bill is further indication that some GOP Senators are finally ready to break ranks. On the House side, some Judiciary Committee GOP members have rebelled agains the White House position:
In the House, the Judiciary Committee was forced to scrap a planned drafting of a warrantless surveillance bill, in part because nearly half a dozen Republican conservatives were in open rebellion against GOP leaders' efforts to weaken controls on the eavesdropping program.
"There are enough Republicans with concerns," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who was pushing bipartisan legislation that would all but scuttle the warrantless surveillance program. "Once you basically give the president this authority, it's very difficult to pull it back. That's very shortsighted just to point out the differences between Republicans and Democrats."
There is a decent bipartisan alternative to the Specter legislation, legislation that he in fact has cosponsored. The Feinsten-Specter bill, the "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Improvement and Enhancement Act of 2006" (S. 3001), was also passed out of the Committee yesterday with the only bipartisan vote taken. It was supported by Graham and Specter, on a vote of 10 to 8. S. 3001 would restore the rule of law by requiring the president to follow the exclusive procedures set by Congress for wiretapping Americans and it would also streamline the procedures to seek a FISA warrant, answering the supposed concerns of the administration.
The GOP can't win on this one. If they try to push through the Specter bill, they have to twist the arms of too many GOP members who are running away from the Rubber Stamp Rebublican label we've stuck on them. And they get a very messy fight. The Democrats cannot effectively be labelled as obstructionist on this one, because they have a perfectly good alternative they, and even Republicans including Specter and Graham, are more than willing to enact.
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