Following up on the post earlier about FISA, found here, where Bush made it clear he would not sign another extension just because the Democratic politicians were too incompetent to do their jobs, and showing how many Democrats crossed over to work in a bipartisan effort to pass a FISA bill in the Senate, we now see that the House Democrats couldn't hold their own caucus together on the FISA extension and the Republicans in the House were joined by the Blue Dog Democrats and liberals to defeat the measure.
The vote "To extend the Protect America Act of 2007 for 21 days," was defeated with 191 voting Aye and 229 voting no, roll call found here.
The measure, which failed 191 to 229, would have extended FISA three weeks to work out differences with the Senate on granting immunity to telecom companies that aided the federal government in sweeping federal surveillance program.
The Democratic bill was undone by strong opposition from Republicans and 34 Democrats, including members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition who want to see a bill passed, and liberal members who oppose many other aspects of the program.
Now, Democratic House leaders are left scrambling for a solution before the law expires on Friday.......
The 34 Democrats that voted against the extension were:
Altmire
Boren
Boswell
Capuano
Costello
Davis, Lincoln
DeFazio
Doggett
Filner
Hall (NY)
Hinchey
Holt
Kucinich
Lee
Lewis (GA)
Mahoney (FL)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Pallone
Pascrell
Payne
Peterson (MN)
Rothman
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Serrano
Udall (NM)
Walz (MN)
Waters
Watt
Woolsey
Wu
The vote was a personal defeat for House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who worked furiously behind the scenes for an extension, charging the president was trying to "foment fear" by claiming that another extension would harm intelligence gathering capabilities.
Hoyer and Reyes also argued that the bill's expiration would not hamstring intelligence agencies monitoring of the electronic communications of suspected terrorists - a charge the administration and most congressional Republicans roundly reject.
Hoyer said he'll not be bullied by Republicans trying to get him to rush through the measure before Friday.
"We're not the lap dog of the president or the United States Senate any more than they are to us," he said.
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also worked diligently to keep his caucus opposed to the bill. Not a single Republican voted for the extension.
As I have said on two other posts now........The clock is ticking...TICK TOCK TICK TOCK.
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