nytimes.com— "After long opposing the idea of immunity for the phone companies in the wiretapping operation, he voted for the plan on Wednesday."
Jul 9, 2008View in Crawl 4
On July 9, there were votes on three key amendments. The first, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd (Conn.), Russ Feingold (Wis.), and Pat Leahy (Vt.), would have stripped retroactive telecom immunity from the legislation. It failed on a 32-66 vote (31 Dems — including Obama — and Bernie Sanders).The second, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), would have required the courts to consider the legality of Bush’s warrantless-search program before immunity could be granted. It failed on a 37-61 vote (35 Dems — including Obama — and Sanders and Specter).And third was an amendment from Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) would have put off the immunity question for a year, pending a review of the surveillance program by the Justice Department’s inspector general. This was the closest vote of the three, but it didn’t come close, failing on a 46-52 vote (44 Dems — including Obama — and Sanders and Specter).John McCain, as per the norm, didn’t show up for work, and didn’t participate in any of the votes.
Closed AccountJul 9, 2008
On July 9, there were votes on three key amendments. The first, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd (Conn.), Russ Feingold (Wis.), and Pat Leahy (Vt.), would have stripped retroactive telecom immunity from the legislation. It failed on a 32-66 vote (31 Dems — including Obama — and Bernie Sanders).The second, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), would have required the courts to consider the legality of Bush’s warrantless-search program before immunity could be granted. It failed on a 37-61 vote (35 Dems — including Obama — and Sanders and Specter).And third was an amendment from Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) would have put off the immunity question for a year, pending a review of the surveillance program by the Justice Department’s inspector general. This was the closest vote of the three, but it didn’t come close, failing on a 46-52 vote (44 Dems — including Obama — and Sanders and Specter).John McCain, as per the norm, didn’t show up for work, and didn’t participate in any of the votes.