January 28, 2008
FISA cloture fails
The Republicans failed by a large margin to invoke cloture on the FISA bill including the telecoms-amnesty provision. They got only four Democratic crossovers (Landrieu, Lincoln, Pryor, and Ben Nelson) while Arlen Specter (!) actually voted "No."
Cloture requires 60 votes (it's a 3/5 rule, but 3/5 of the entire Senate, not 3/5 of those voting), but the motion only got 48. Not voting (tantamount to a "No" vote): Harkin, Lieberman, Bill Nelson, Coburn, Dole, Ensign, Harkin, McCain.
Perhaps Harry Reid isn't actually the dupe that some of his critics have made him out to be. He now has the Republicans in the position of claiming that the expiration of the law would be a national catastrophe and refusing to even allow a vote on a simple 30-day extension. Doesn't look to me like a winning hand.
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