Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the panel, is pushing a plan that would substitute the federal government as the defendant in the lawsuits against the telecommunications companies. That would mean that the government, not the companies, would pay damages in successful lawsuits.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, said in an interview after the vote Thursday that he would support a compromise along the lines of the Specter proposal.
Mr. Whitehouse was one of two Democrats who voted against an amendment proposed by Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, that would have banned immunity for the companies. "I think there is a good solution somewhere in the middle," Mr. Whitehouse said.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who also opposed Mr. Feingold's measure, pleaded with Mr. Leahy to defer the immunity issue because she wants more time to consider several compromise proposals.
(I was under the impression that Herb Kohl also voted against the Feingold Amendment -ed.)
Feinstein had no need for compromise earlier in the week. She was gung-ho for telecom immunity. Clearly the pushback in the Senate amped up the desire for compromise, even if Specter's is a fig leaf that would still get the telecoms off the hook while effectively stopping lawsuits through an expected invocation of state secrets. But I have to assume that the heat Feinstein is taking from the grassroots back in California is driving her thinking as well. If Leahy passed out immunity she would be seen as the biggest cheerleader for it - AGAIN, after Southwick and Mukasey. It would be the last straw. So she's trying to get out in front and take credit for some kind of compromise that will eventually come.
So the progressive movement can take a little credit for winning this battle, as DFA did in a hyperventilating email last night. We have not yet won the war, and there will absolutely be a floor fight and a bullshit centrist compromise to work against.
This isn't over.
(Also the rest of the bill is pretty good, and has things that the Bush Administration has vowed to reject, always a good thing. But will the Congress cave? That's the big question.)
UPDATE: This DKos post notes that Harry Reid is going to bring up the Intelligence Committee bill as the main bill, with the Judiciary Committee bill as a substitute. That's the exact opposite of what he said yesterday. This is very fluid and there's likely to be shenanigans. |
