Senate Week in Review: February 27 – March 3, 2006

As you can tell from the table below, last week’s Senate-floor activity centered on the ill-advised renewal of the USA Patriot Act and, in a strange bit of theater, grudging Republican approval of a bit more money to fund the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Here’s a look at the Senate roll call votes taken February 27 –March 3, 2006:



Why Senate Democrats – with the notable exception of Russ Feingold (D-WI) and a handful of others -- are so reluctant to take on George W. Bush and the GOP leadership on the Patriot Act is becoming a crop circle-like mystery to me. You have a president with Nixonian approval ratings, the public disliking almost every policy he proposes, a disastrous war and a Republican Congress drowning in scandal — what’s so hard about leaving safe ground for a few minutes and hitting them hard on this scare-tactic legislation?

Yet, there we were last week, caving in again.

Votes of Note

"Without freedom, we are not America. If we don't preserve our liberties, we cannot win this war, no matter how many terrorists we capture or kill," said Feingold in a final, impassioned plea to get his Democratic colleagues to vote against renewing the Patriot Act. But it still went through by a vote of 89-10.

Thanks to Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) for joining the following nine Democratic senators in opposing this version of the Patriot Act:

• Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
• Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
• Robert Byrd (D-WV)
• Russ Feingold (D-WI)
• Tom Harkin (D-IA)
• Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
• Carl Levin (D-MI)
• Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Ron Wyden (D-OR)

"Today I voted to ensure that as we protect our country we also protect our civil liberties. I've said all along that we need to strike the right balance, and this bill still falls far short," Patty Murray said. "I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting our nation, and I know our security should not come at the expense of the rights and liberties that make our nation strong. We can do better than the bill that came before the Senate today."

Senator Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, concurred with Murray.

“I believe that Americans’ security includes our national security, our security from terrorism and also our right to be secure as Americans,” said Leahy. “And that means exercising the liberties, rights and freedoms that define us as Americans.”

Prior to that vote, Senators had to weigh in on invoking cloture – ending debate – on renewal of the controversial law and, by a vote of 84-15, a filibuster spearheaded by Feingold was ended. Here’s the Democrats who supported continued debate on the Patriot Act:

• Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
• Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
• Robert Byrd (D-WV)
• Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
• Mark Dayton (D-MN)
• Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
• Dick Durbin (D-IL)
• Russ Feingold (D-WI)
• Tom Harkin (D-IA)
• Jim Jeffords (I-VT)
• Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
• Carl Levin (D-MI)
• Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
• Ron Wyden (D-OR)

The House is expected to give final approval to the legislation this week and Terror Guy – as my buddy Taylor Marsh calls Bush – will most assuredly sign it rapidly.

And thus the Patriot Act is now in place for the foreseeable future and Team Bush continues to convince the American people – or at least their Congressional representatives – that our only options are to be killed by evil terrorists or live in a police state.

Lovely.

The other major vote taken was another kick at the can to get some funding for LIHEAP -- except this time it seems destined for success because it’s sponsored by Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine.

This is the same program that Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and John Kerry (D-MA) busted their butts trying to get a least partially funded in late 2005, only to have it shot down by the GOP leadership in four different roll call votes.

But a 66-31 vote on Thursday at least guaranteed that budget restrictions would be waived to allow the government to distribute an extra $1 billion this winter for heating assistance for the poor.

A final vote, which must also be passed by the House, is expected this week.

Other Happenings

On February 27, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) hit back at the Bush administration’s strange theories on appropriate U.S. port protection by introducing legislation that would allow individual ports to terminate leases with operators within their ports if the ownership has been transferred to an entity that poses a security risk.

"When all else fails, we need to give ports the availability to protect themselves and surrounding communities," said Senator Lautenberg. "This Administration's incompetence and secret deal-making should not leave our towns and cities vulnerable to attack."

You’ve got to love Lautenberg – he never fails to take action when needed against Team Bush.

Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) announced legislation last week to offer a streamlined, user-friendly prescription drug benefit administered directly through Medicare. The new benefit will offer seniors and people with disabilities a real choice and will hopefully provide an answer to the extreme problems experienced by seniors in trying to navigate the Bush administration’s Byzantine program.

"Instead of the Medicare program that seniors know and trust, the Administration and its allies in Congress turned the drug benefit over to the drug and insurance industries," Kennedy said. "Instead of allowing Medicare to bargain for discounts on prescriptions as the VA does, they made negotiations prohibited." The program was unsatisfactory to start with, and its implementation was so incompetent that President Bush didn't even mention it in his State of the Union Address."

"Seniors across the country have been denied the medicines they need, or forced to pay excessive costs to fill their prescriptions," continued Kennedy. “It's time to fix these failures. Our proposal gives seniors a real choice, by adding drug coverage to Medicare's coverage of hospital and doctor's bills. It ends the outrageous ban on bargaining for discounts on drug prices. It's a realistic solution to the Administration's failed approach."

The Stabenow-Kennedy legislation is cosponsored by Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Carl Levin (D-MI), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Mark Dayton (D-MN).