FISA Fight Finally Coming to a Climax

Late last week, the Senate came to an agreement about how it was going to handle the FISA legislation that has kept causing problems. The Democrats reached across the aisle to the recalcitrant Republicans and . . . well, they either caved or they didn't. The Republicans--who were holding up any vote on any amendment to the bill whatsoever--have agreed to vote on Monday and to allow most amendments to stand or fall on a straight majority vote and are only intending to force a supermajority on a few. Some people seem to be satisfied, but I find it hard not to agree with Glenn Greenwald:

It seems rather clear what happened here. There are certain amendments that are not going to get even 50 votes -- including the Dodd/Feingold amendment to strip telecom immunity out of the bill -- and, for that reason, Republicans were more than willing to agree to a 50-vote threshold, since they know those amendments won't pass even in a simple up-or-down vote.

But then, there are other amendments which might be able to get 50 votes, but cannot get 60 votes -- such as Feinstein's amendment to transfer the telecom cases to the FISA court and her other amendment providing that FISA is the "exclusive means" for eavesdropping -- and, thus, those are the amendments for which the GOP insisted upon a 60-vote requirement.

The whole agreement seems designed to ensure that the GOP gets everything they want -- that they are able to defeat all of the pending amendments which Dick Cheney dislikes, and to do so without having to engage in a real filibuster.

On he other hand, there are a number of people who seem at least somewhat satisfied. Senator Russ Feingold is pleased, although he seems to leave his options open in case the amendments votes don't go the way he'd like. Let's help him out. McJoan, another optimist about the deal, has a list of Senate phone numbers.