The debate preceding the Amash-Conyers amendment (i.e. the amendment to curb the blanket surveillance powers of the NSA) was riveting to watch. Unfortunately, the amendment failed, but it failed well. It failed 205 to 217. If seven votes had flipped, it would have won. From what I've heard, the party leadership (on both sides) were furiously whipping on the House floor to ensure it wouldn't pass. Failing well--although not as good as winning--is still a positive sign. If you fail well, the next time you can fail better or even win.
111 Democrats and 94 Republicans voted in favor of the amendment. 134 Republicans and 83 Democrats opposed it. A majority of the House Democratic caucus supported the amendment even though the President was lobbying heavily against it. That itself is an accomplishment. The trans-partisan nature of the privacy rights coalition is also welcome.
I want to highlight three groups here: the Democrats who should be shamed for their "NO" votes, the Democrats who should be praised for their "YES" votes, and the Republicans with whom--although we disagree on almost everything--can find at least one point of common ground.
The majority of the Democratic support, of course, came from the Congressional Progressive Caucus. From what I heard earlier today, Ellison and Lee were whipping in favor of the amendment. I find it unfortunate--troubling, even--that ten members of the Progressive Caucus, including two vice chairs, voted against it. The 10 members of the Progressive Caucus who opposed the amendment were vice chairs Jan Schakowsky and Sheila Jackson Lee then members Corinne Brown, Lois Frankel, Luis Guiterrez, Eddie Johnson, Hank Johnson, Marcy Kaptur, Joe Kennedy III, and Louise Slaughter. There are, thankfully, few times I will ever say that I agree with Louie Gohmert or Steve Stockman over Jan Schakowsky. Unfortunately, this is one.
Most of the House Democratic leadership--Pelosi, Hoyer, Van Hollen, Wasserman Schultz--voted no. Clyburn, however, voted yes.
Which 83 Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for voting against protecting civil liberties and upholding the Fourth Amendment?
Rob Andrews (NJ-01)
Ron Barber (AZ-02)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Timothy Bishop (NY-01)
Corinne Brown (FL-05)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
G. K. Butterfield (NC-01)
John Carney (DE-AL)
Kathy Castor (FL-14)
Joaquin Castro (TX-20)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Susan Davis (CA-53)
John Delaney (MD-06)
Tammy Duckworth (IL-08)
Eliot Engel (NY-16)
Bill Enyart (IL-12)
Elizabeth Esty (CT-05)
Bill Foster (IL-11)
Lois Frankel (FL-22)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
Al Green (TX-09)
Luis Gutiérrez (IL-04)
Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01)
Denny Heck (WA-10)
Brian Higgins (NY-26)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15)
Steny Hoyer (MD-05)
Steve Israel (NY-03)
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18)
Hank Johnson (GA-04)
Eddie Johnson (TX-30)
Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Robin Kelly (IL--02)
Joseph Kennedy (MA-04)
Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Ann Kuster (NH-02)
Jim Langevin (RI-02)
Rick Larsen (WA-02)
Sander Levin (MI-09)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Nita Lowey (NY-17)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Jerry McNerney (CA-09)
Gregory Meeks (NY-05)
Grace Meng (NY-106)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Donald Payne (NJ-10)
Nancy Pelosi (CA-12)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Gary Peters (MI-09)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
David Price (NC-04)
Mike Quigley (IL-05)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Tim Ryan (OH-13)
Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)
Bradley Schneider (IL-10)
Allyson Schwartz (PA-13)
David Scott (GA-13)
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Krysten Sinema (AZ-09)
Albio Sires (NJ-08)
Louise Slaughter (NY-25)
Adam Smith (WA-09)
Mike Thompson (CA-05)
Dina Titus (NV-01)
Chris Van Hollen (MD-08)
Juan Vargas (CA-51)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
Peter Visclosky (IN-01)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23)
Frederica Wilson (FL-24)
These 111 Democrats merit our praise.
Karen Bass (CA-37)
Xavier Becerra (CA-34)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Bob Brady (PA-01)
Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Lois Capps (CA-24)
Mike Capuano (MA-07)
Tony Cárdenas (CA-29)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
Matt Cartwright (PA-17)
Judy Chu (CA-27)
David Cicilline (RI-01)
Yvette Clarke (NY-09)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
James Clyburn (SC-06)
Steve Cohen (TN-09)
Gerald Connolly (VA-11)
John Conyers (MI-13)
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Joe Crowley (NY-14)
Elijah Cummings (MD-07)
Danny Davis (IL-07)
Pete DeFazio (OR-04)
Diana DeGette (CO-01)
Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Ted Deutch (FL-21)
John Dingell (MI-12)
Lloyd Doggett (TX-35)
Mike Doyle (PA-14)
Donna Edwards (MD-04)
Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Anna Eshoo (CA-18)
Sam Farr (CA-20)
Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Marcia Fudge (OH-11)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Alan Grayson (FL-09)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
Janice Hahn (CA-44)
Alcee Hastings (FL-20)
Rush Holt (NJ-12)
Mike Honda (CA-17)
Jared Huffman (CA-02)
Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08)
William Keating (MA-09)
Dan Kildee (MI-5)
John Larson (CT-01)
Barbara Lee (CA-13)
John Lewis (GA-05)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Alan Lowenthal (CA-47)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)
Ben Luján (NM-03)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Dan Maffei (NY-24)
Carolyn Maloney (NY-12)
Doris Matsui (CA-06)
Betty McCollum (MN-04)
Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Jim McGovern (MA-02)
Mike Michaud (ME-02)
George Miller (CA-11)
Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Jim Moran (VA-08)
Jerry Nadler (NY-10)
Grace Napolitano (CA-32)
Richard Neal (MA-01)
Rick Nolan (MN-08)
Beto O’Rourke (TX-16)
Bill Owens (NY-21)
Bill Pascrell (NJ-09)
Ed Pastor (AZ-07)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
Mark Pocan (WI-02)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Nick Rahall (WV-03)
Charlie Rangel (NY-13)
Cedric Richmond (LA-02)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40)
Bobby Rush (IL-01)
Linda Sánchez (CA-38)
Loretta Sanchez (CA-46)
John Sarbanes (MD-03)
Adam Schiff (CA-28)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Bobby Scott (VA)
Jose Serrano (NY-15)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)
Brad Sherman (CA-30)
Jackie Speier (CA-14)
Eric Swalwell (CA-15)
Mark Takano (CA-41)
Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
John Tierney (MA-06)
Paul Tonko (NY-20)
Niki Tsongas (MA-03)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)
Nydia Velázquez (NY-07)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
Maxine Waters (CA-43)
Mel Watt (NC-12)
Henry Waxman (CA-33)
Pete Welch (VT-AL)
John Yarmuth (KY-03)
And here are 93 Republicans with whom--no matter how crazy or vile much of what they say and believe often is--you can find at least one point of shared ground:
Justin Amash (MI-03)
Mark Amodei (NV-02)
Spencer Bachus (AL-06)
Joe Barton (TX-26)
Kerry Bentivolio (MI-11)
Rob Bishop (UT-01)
Diane Black (TN-06)
Marsha Blackburn (TN-07)
Jim Bridenstine (OK-01)
Paul Broun (GA-10)
Vern Buchanan (FL-16)
Michael Burgess (TX-26)
Bill Cassidy (LA-06)
Steve Chabot (OH-01)
Jason Chaffetz (UT-03)
Mike Coffman (CO-06)
Kevin Cramer (ND)
Steve Daines (MT)
Rodney Davis (IL-13)
Ron DeSantis (FL-06)
Scott DesJarlais (TN-04)
Sean Duffy (WI-07)
Jeff Duncan (SC-03)
John Duncan (TN-02)
Blake Farenthold (TX-27)
Stephen Fincher (TN-08)
Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08)
Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03)
John Fleming (LA-04)
Cory Gardner (CO-04)
Scott Garrett (NJ-05)
Chris Gibson (NY-19)
Louie Gohmert (TX-01)
Paul Gosar (AZ-04)
Trey Gowdy (SC-04)
Tom Graves (GA-14)
Tim Griffin (AR-02)
Morgan Griffith (VA-09)
Ralph Hall (TX-04)
Andy Harris (MD-01)
Tim Huelskamp (KS-01)
Bill Huizenga (MI-02)
Randy Hultgren (IL-14)
Lynn Jenkins (KS-02)
Bill Johnson (OH-06)
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Jim Jordan (OH-04)
Jack Kingston (GA-01)
Raul Labrador (ID-01)
Doug LaMalfa (CA-01)
Doug Lamborn (CO-05)
Cynthia Lummis (WY)
Kenny Marchant (TX-24)
Tom Massie (KY-04)
Tom McClintock (CA-04)
Patrick McHenry (NC-10)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05)
Mark Meadows (NC-11)
John Mica (FL-07)
Gary Miller (CA-31)
Markwayne Mullin (OK-02)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Richard Nugent (FL-11)
Steve Pearce (NM-02)
Scott Perry (PA-04)
Tom Petri (WI-06)
Ted Poe (TX-02)
Bill Posey (FL-08)
Tom Price (GA-06)
Trey Radel (FL-19)
Reid Ribble (WI-08)
Tom Rice (SC-07)
Phil Roe (TN-01)
Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48)
Dennis Ross (Fl-15)
Keith Rothfus (PA-12)
Matt Salmon (AZ-05)
Mark Sanford (SC-01)
Steve Scalise (LA-01)
David Schweikert (AZ-06)
Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-05)
Jason Smith (MO-08)
Chris Smith (NJ-04)
Steve Southerland (FL-02)
Chris Stewart (UT-02)
Steve Stockman (TX-36)
Glenn Thompson (PA-05)
Scott Tipton (CO-03)
Randy Weber (TX-14)
Roger Williams (TX-25)
Joe Wilson (SC-02)
Kevin Yoder (KS-03)
Ted Yoho (FL-03)
Don Young (AK)