Today the US House voted by a 293-129 margin to pass HR 6304, the FISA amendments bill that would grant immunity for telecoms that break the law in the course of cooperating with the feds and grant the executive branch additional surveillance powers.(Here’s the AP story about the vote. McJoan posted this backgrounder at Daily Kos yesterday.
The Democrats did not hold together in their opposition to the bill. All week long House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has taken well-deserved hits for touting a “compromise” that gave the administration and the Republicans essentially everything they wanted. Glenn Greenwald wrote about Hoyer’s miserable gambit earlier this week.
In the end, 105 Democrats voted for the bill, and 129 against.
In Minnesota’s delegation, however, every Democrat except Collin Peterson remained steadfast in their opposition. Here’s how the roll call broke down:
Bachmann Y
Ellison N
Kline Y
McCollum N
Oberstar N
Peterson Y
Ramstad Y
Walz N
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