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Obama Joins Fellow Senators in Passing New Wiretapping Measure
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Jul 10, 2008 12:31am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Thursday, July 10, 2008 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Washington Post.
An excerpt...
"The Senate easily approved legislation to overhaul government eavesdropping rules in terrorism and espionage cases and effectively granted immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in a secret domestic spying program, ending a contentious debate that has raged for more than two years.
Among the 69 senators who voted "yes" on final passage was Barack Obama (Ill.), who had opposed the immunity provision in earlier versions of the wiretapping bill, a rewrite of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said revisions had alleviated his concerns, but Sen. John McCain's campaign -- and many on the left -- seized on the reversal as a flip-flop of the first order.
"He's willing to change positions, break campaign commitments and undermine his own words in his quest for higher office," said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the Arizona Republican.
The bill's 28 opponents included numerous prominent Democrats, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.); Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.); Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (Ill.); and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), a former presidential candidate now considered a leading contender to share the ticket with Obama.
Lining up with Obama were 47 Republicans and 21 mostly moderate Democrats, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Evan Bayh (Ind.).
"Senator Obama has said before that the compromise bill is not perfect," his campaign said in a statement. "Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, Senator Obama chose to support the FISA compromise." |
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