¯\_(?)_/¯: Senate Fails To Move Ahead With Keystone Pipeline and NSA Reform

As Dan wrote earlier this evening, the Keystone Pipeline vote went down in flames. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s Hail Mary ended in disaster; she fell one vote shy to invoke cloture on a bill that probably would not have saved her from defeat in her state’s upcoming runoff election on Dec. 6 against Republican Congressman Bill Cassidy.

Additionally, a bill to reform the National Security Agency post-Snowden also fell two votes shy of cloture; incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spearheaded the bill’s opposition. Yet, both bills are expected to return to the Senate floor next year. Keystone will probably pass, but the changes in the NSA bill will be quite different under a Republican Senate (via NYT):

[T]he vote only put off a fractious debate over security and personal liberties until next year. While a Republican-controlled Senate is less likely to go along with the kinds of changes that were in the bill, which would have ended the N.S.A.'s ability to collect bulk phone call data, the debate could further expose rifts between the party’s interventionist and more libertarian-leaning wings.

Under the bill, which grew out of the disclosures in June 2013 by Edward J. Snowden, the former intelligence contractor, the N.S.A. would have gotten out of the business of collecting Americans’ phone records in bulk. Instead, most of the records would have stayed in the hands of the phone companies. Analysts would still have been able to perform contact chaining, but they would be required to use a new kind of court order to swiftly obtain only those records that were linked, up to two layers away, to a suspect — even when held by different phone companies.

The bill would not have required phone companies to hold on to the records any longer than they already do for normal business purposes, which in some cases is 18 months.

With the bill’s defeat, the Senate faces a hard deadline for new legislation since the legal basis for the phone records program, a provision of the Patriot Act, expires in June.

Recommended

What CNN's Top Legal Analyst Said About Trump's AG Pick Might Have Irritated Liberals Matt Vespa

Advertisement

Here's the roll call vote on the USA Freedom Act (NSA Reform Bill) courtesy of the Associated Press:

Voting yes were 52 Democrats, 4 Republicans and 2 independents.

Voting no were 1 Democrat and 41 Republicans.

ALABAMA

Sessions (R), No; Shelby (R), No.

ALASKA

Begich (D), Yes; Murkowski (R), Yes.

ARIZONA

Flake (R), No; McCain (R), No.

ARKANSAS

Boozman (R), No; Pryor (D), Yes.

CALIFORNIA

Boxer (D), Yes; Feinstein (D), Yes.

COLORADO

Bennet (D), Yes; Udall (D), Yes.

CONNECTICUT

Blumenthal (D), Yes; Murphy (D), Yes.

DELAWARE

Carper (D), Yes; Coons (D), Yes.

FLORIDA

Nelson (D), No; Rubio (R), No.

GEORGIA

Chambliss (R), No; Isakson (R), No.

HAWAII

Hirono (D), Yes; Schatz (D), Yes.

IDAHO

Crapo (R), No; Risch (R), No.

ILLINOIS

Durbin (D), Yes; Kirk (R), No.

INDIANA

Coats (R), No; Donnelly (D), Yes.

IOWA

Grassley (R), No; Harkin (D), Yes.

KANSAS

Moran (R), No; Roberts (R), No.

KENTUCKY

McConnell (R), No; Paul (R), No.

LOUISIANA

Landrieu (D), Yes; Vitter (R), No.

MAINE

Collins (R), No; King (I), Yes.

MARYLAND

Cardin (D), Yes; Mikulski (D), Yes.

MASSACHUSETTS

Markey (D), Yes; Warren (D), Yes.

MICHIGAN

Levin (D), Yes; Stabenow (D), Yes.

MINNESOTA

Franken (D), Yes; Klobuchar (D), Yes.

MISSISSIPPI

Cochran (R), No; Wicker (R), No.

MISSOURI

Blunt (R), No; McCaskill (D), Yes.

MONTANA

Tester (D), Yes; Walsh (D), Yes.

NEBRASKA

Fischer (R), No; Johanns (R), No.

NEVADA

Heller (R), Yes; Reid (D), Yes.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Ayotte (R), No; Shaheen (D), Yes.

NEW JERSEY

Booker (D), Yes; Menendez (D), Yes.

NEW MEXICO

Heinrich (D), Yes; Udall (D), Yes.

NEW YORK

Gillibrand (D), Yes; Schumer (D), Yes.

NORTH CAROLINA

Burr (R), No; Hagan (D), Yes.

NORTH DAKOTA

Heitkamp (D), Yes; Hoeven (R), No.

OHIO

Brown (D), Yes; Portman (R), No.

OKLAHOMA

Coburn (R), No; Inhofe (R), No.

OREGON

Merkley (D), Yes; Wyden (D), Yes.

PENNSYLVANIA

Casey (D), Yes; Toomey (R), No.

RHODE ISLAND

Reed (D), Yes; Whitehouse (D), Yes.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Graham (R), No; Scott (R), No.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Johnson (D), Yes; Thune (R), No.

TENNESSEE

Alexander (R), No; Corker (R), No.

TEXAS

Cornyn (R), No; Cruz (R), Yes.

UTAH

Hatch (R), No; Lee (R), Yes.

VERMONT

Leahy (D), Yes; Sanders (I), Yes.

VIRGINIA

Kaine (D), Yes; Warner (D), Yes.

WASHINGTON

Cantwell (D), Yes; Murray (D), Yes.

WEST VIRGINIA

Manchin (D), Yes; Rockefeller (D), Yes.

WISCONSIN

Baldwin (D), Yes; Johnson (R), No.

WYOMING

Barrasso (R), No; Enzi (R), No.