These 18 Senate Democrats Just Voted to Hand Trump Mass Spying Powers
Sen. Doug Jones
is seen during a photo op in the Capitol on January 3, 2018. Jones was one of
18 Democrats who voted in favor of expanding Donald Trump's warrantless spying
powers. (Photo: Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call)
Senate
Democrats had an opportunity Tuesday
night to block legislation that places expanded warrantless spying powers into
the hands of President Donald Trump -- who they have frequently criticized as a deranged
authoritarian -- but 18 Democrats opted instead to do the
opposite, providing the decisive votes in favor of a cloture motion that essentially ensures the bill's passage
this week.
While many
viewed the Senate's approval of cloture as a sure thing, a bit of drama ensued Tuesday night as the
motion was two votes shy of the necessary 60 with two senators -- John Kennedy
(R-La.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) -- left to vote.
But after
Kennedy opted to vote in favor of the motion, McCaskill quickly followed with a
yes vote of her own -- giving the Republican majority enough votes to kill
debate on the the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017 (S.139), block any
possible privacy amendments, and clear its path to the Senate floor.
In total, 18
Democratic senators -- as well as Angus King (I-Maine) -- voted with
Republicans to move the widely denounced bill
forward.
The 18
Democrats were: Tom Carper (Del.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto
(Nev.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.),
Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Doug Jones (Ala.), Amy Klobuchar
(Minn.), Joe Manchin (W.V.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Gary
Peters (Mich.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Mark Warner (Va.), Sheldon
Whitehouse (R.I.).
Democrat
Claire McCaskill just made the deciding vote: she voted YES on on cutting off
debate for privacy amendments to the NSA spying bill.
The bill—which expands the Trump admin's ability to conduct domestic
surveillance—will now almost certainly pass.
Civil liberties groups were quick to condemn every senator who
cast a vote in favor of legislation that, if passed, will renew Section 702 of
FISA, which allows the government to spy on the electronic communications of
Americans and foreigners without a warrant.
"Members
of both parties who voted in favor of this legislation should be sharply
rebuked for supporting a bill that is in flagrant violation of the rights
enshrined in the Constitution," ACLU declared on Twitter following Tuesday's
vote. "Instead of instituting much needed reforms and safeguards, Senators
supported legislation that would give spying powers to an administration that
has time and time again demonstrated its disregard for civil rights and civil
liberties."
60
Senators tonight voted to make it easier to spy on people against whom the FBI
has no evidence of wrongdoing than against criminal suspects.
The Senate's
vote on Tuesday came just a week after 65 House Democrats momentarily dropped their skepticism of
Trump's mental capacity and voted to gift him and Attorney General Jeff
Sessions the ability to conduct mass surveillance of Americans with little oversight.
What follows
is a full list of the senators who voted in favor of the cloture motion Tuesday
night. (Ten of the Democrats on
the list are up for reelection in November.)
This piece was reprinted by Truthout
with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without
permission or license from the source.
Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common
Dreams. Follow him on Twitter: @johnsonjakep.
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