Apparently, the Republican leadership in the U.S. House thought that the extension of certain intrusive portions the USA Patriot Act would be an easy slam-dunk. After all, the president wanted it, and you know how John Boehner strains to please the president!So they brought the bill up under expedited procedures which require a 2/3rds vote of the body. Only somebody forgot to tell all those newbie tea party Republicans that they were supposed to vote approvingly for the federal government's ability to spy, unrestrained, on its own citizens. The vote last night failed to reach the necessary 2/3rds, because some 26 Republican members (including eight freshmen) voted no (along with 122 Democrats).
Oh, they'll bring the bill back under regular order, and of course it'll pass. One wonders if those dissident eight freshmen will continue to stick to their guns and oppose the continued over-reaching of government power first instituted under George W. Bush. Or will they just go along?
Another freshman, Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.), gave Politico a pretty good Constitutional argument against the bill:
“In a free society you have to be very careful as to taking away the civil liberties of the American people. Even if the bill is well intentioned and the law is well intentioned it can be used against innocent people. So that was my concern.”
Yet Rokita voted for it! Why? So much for logical consistency among tea party Republicans.
1 comment:
The Obama Administration asks for extended powers to spy on Americans, which you do not like. It fails because TP politicians vote "no." So you write a post criticizing the TP politicians who prevented the extension.
So much for logical consistency among tea party Republicans, er, I mean among leftie bloggers.
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