Wednesday, February 6, 2008: Senate stimulus package falls one vote short of advancing

Senate stands in recess until 10:30 tomorrow

[19:32]
That's it for the day. A FISA amendment fell, as did the Senate stimulus package. Reid will speak tomorrow when the session begins. I expect votes on FISA amendments tomorrow, in addition to a vote or two on amendments to the House-passed stimulus package.

Quorum call

[19:13]
The Senate has been in a quorum call for a little while, ever since the cloture vote on the Senate stimulus package failed. Majority leader Reid acknowledged just afterward that senators would likely vote on one omnibus or several piecemeal amendments to the House-passed version of the package. Republicans have already shown a willingness to add checks for seniors and the military disabled to the House package. Also necessary will be a fix to ensure that illegal immigrants do not receives rebate checks. Can Democrats get anything else added? That's the question.

Eight Republicans weren't enough to move the package along

[18:13]
The Senate Finance's committee's take on economic stimulus needed 60 votes to advance on the Senate floor but came up one vote short, 59 to 40. McCain was the only no-vote.

Eight Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the package: Domenici (NM), Grassley (IA), Dole (NC), Snowe (ME), Coleman (MN), Collins (ME), Specter (PA), Smith (OR).

No Democrat voted against cloture. You will read that the final vote was 58-41, which is true. But for procedural reasons, the majority leader always changes his vote at the very end (so he can continue to control the measure). If you count Reid, the amendment got 59 votes.

From here, it's likely that several portions of the Senate package will be re-offered as a single amendment, winning easy approval. The House would then have to approve the package, as amended in the Senate. Or the two packages could be reconciled in conference.

I gotta say, when there is such a narrow vote in the Senate, I really want to know how all senators would have voted. McCain skipped out on this vote. Would he have voted against cloture anyway? We'll never know.

How the voting went...

[17:47]
Senators are now voting on whether to limit debate on a stimulus package that the Senate Finance committee has put together, somewhat in an act of autonomy on the part of the Senate. The House passed its own version of a stimulus package in January, winning approval from President Bush. The Senate package runs at $158b as opposed to the House's $146b. Check here for some other differences.

60 senators need to vote 'Aye' to keep the Senate package alive. So, Democrats need to hold rank and pick up 9 Republicans.

The votes:

Aye: Democrats plus Domenici (NM), Grassley (IA), Dole (NC), Snowe (ME), Coleman (MN), Collins (ME), Specter (PA), Smith (OR) (need one more)
Nay: Republicans

Obama and Clinton voted 'aye' but McCain (AZ) hasn't voted yet...

Falls 59 to 40. Sixty were needed. McCain was the only no-vote.

Coburn wonders where stimulus money is going to come from

[16:31]
No one asks where the money to pay for this stimulus package is going to come from, says Tom Coburn (OK). He cites the Japanese gov't that made similar mistakes trying to avoid recession but incurred instead 10 years of stagnation. There aren't higher revenues collected through taxes with this package. We're gonna bankrupt our children further, whether we pass the House bill or the Senate bill.

Coburn calls for an extension of the Bush tax cuts and a lowering of corporate tax rates. He says that moves like these will introduce certainty and investment, which brings on economic growth.

Approaching vote on Senate's version of stimulus package

[16:30]
There is going to be forty-five minutes of debate by both sides, leading up to the 17:45 cloture vote.

Specter calls for courts to remain open, saying "This is not Pakistan."

[16:11]
Arlen Specter (PA) notes that the President has cited his authority under Article II of the Constitution to ignore the laws passed by Congress when instituting his warrantless surveillance program after the Sept. 11th attacks.

Well, be that as it may, Specter says, a court needs to decide whether or not Bush had the const'l authority to do this.

Specter seems to oppose giving retroactive immunity to telecom companies who helped the gov't collect the communications (including e-mail) of non-terrorist Americans after Sept. 11, 2001. Specter, along with Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), is offering an amendment to this FISA legislation that would substitute the Federal Government for the telecom companies as defendant in the 40 or so pending lawsuits stemming from the warrantless spying program.

Inouye (HI) casts 15,000th vote

[15:48]
With that failed attempt to attach an earlier sunset provision to the new FISA legislation, Daniel Inouye (HI) cast his 15,00th vote as a U.S. senator. Reid is now paying tribute to Inouye, noting his military service in WWII. Inouye was featuring as an interviewee in Ken Burns's The War. He is the recipient of a Medal of Honor for combat bravery.

As you can see here, only three other senators have reached 15,000 votes. Those include Strom Thurmond and current senators Ted Kennedy (MA) and the all-time leader, Robert C. Byrd (WV) who has over 18,000 votes.

McConnell (KY) followed Reid's tribute. And now at 15:58 Daniel Akaka (HI) is paying his tribute.

Needing 60 votes, first FISA amendment fails

[15:27]
First up a Cardin amendment sunsetting certain parts of FISA after four years. Pending before the Senate is FISA legislation affecting only certain parts of FISA (namely, those regarding the way that our gov't conducts wiretapping and other electronic surveillance). It contains a sunset provision of six years. Cardin's amendment shortens that sunset period, requiring Congress to look back at the legislation in four years' time.

The votes come in...

Yes: Democrats.
No: Republicans.

The Democrats aren't picking up any moderate Republican votes...

Obama just voted 'Aye.' I don't think Clinton was there to vote.

The amendment fails, 49 to 46. It needed 60 votes to pass under the agreement the parties reached to bring the FISA amendments up for vote. Generally, amendments need only a simple majority to pass. Not on this bill.

Rockefeller and Bond oppose a Feingold/Webb/Tester amendment to FISA bill

[11:10]
Check here for a quick recap on the FISA bill.

Intelligence chairman Jay Rockefeller (WV) just spoke in opposition to a Feingold/Webb/Tester amendment affecting the way the gov't uses communications collected under FISA. Rockefeller said that the FISA legislation already specifies that the gov't must comply with the Fourth Amendment's prohibitions on unreasonable search and seizure. So, rest assured.

Intelligence vice-chairman Kit Bond (MO) says that if the amendment becomes law, the intelligence community might very well shut down. Intelligence community officials have recommended the veto of any legislation containing the amendment. Bond says that the amendment could prevent the U.S. from listening in if Osama bin Laden placed a call to the U.S.

This Feingold/Webb/Tester amendment says that when/if the gov't accesses and disseminates a recorded communication that it certify to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court that the communication involves a party suspected of terrorism.

So Feingold says that, Yes, America could listen to a communication believed to include Osama. He is someone suspected of terrorism. All the gov't has to do is certify this belief to the FISA court.

Hatch says senators don't need sunset provision on FISA legislation

[10:58]
Orrin Hatch (UT) displays a board saying that other than the PATRIOT Act and that act's reauthorization, 7 of the 8 pieces of legislation affecting FISA did not include sunset provisions. Hatch says that he doesn't need a legislative alarm clock to go off in order to alert him to national security matters.

Ben Cardin (MD) has introduces an amendment to the pending FISA legislation that would sunset the bill in four years. The legislation already contains a six-year sunset.

Senate leaders open with remarks on horrible weather events, stimulus package

[9:36]
The Senate got underway a few moments ago. Harry Reid (NV) is speaking on the floor. He said it was going to be a big day in the Senate. The presidential-candidate senators would be in the house for this evening's 17:45 cloture vote on the Senate's own version of an economic stimulus package. That legislation, which exists now as an amendment to the House-passed version of the stimulus, needs to get 60 votes tonight to clear a procedural hurdle in the Senate. The Senate's stimulus varies in several ways from the House package. Right now Reid is talking about how it includes checks for seniors, where the House package does not; it includes extra funds for the low-income heating assistance program, where the House package does not.

Reid and now [9:41] minority leader Mitch McConnell (KY) have sent their thoughts and prayers to the families and victims affected by the terrible weather that passed through several states including McConnell's own Kentucky. The weather brought tornadoes to Arkansas and Tennessee as well.

McConnell is now voicing support for an amendment to the House-passed stimulus plan that is less robust than the Finance committee version. This Republican Senate stimulus plan would definitely get signed, he says. The Finance committee deal might not get signed. The Republican offering offers checks to seniors, relief for disabled vets, and also fixes the loophole in the House package that would send checks to some illegal immigrants. This loophole exists because of language that gives rebates to anyone with a taxpayer ID. The fix specifies that only taxpayers with valid social security numbers could get checks.