Tuesday, February 28, 2006

4:10 Cloture Invoked on Patriot Act Amendments Bill This afternoon, the Senate voted 69-30 to cut off debate on the Patriot Act Amendments bill.  This was an historic vote for Senator Leahy. With this roll call vote, Senator Leahy has now cast 12,000 votes as a United States Senator.  Only eleven other U.S. Senators have reached or surpassed this number in Senate history.  4:19:01 PM

12:30 Senator Sununu Pleased with Patriot Act Consensus Senator John Sununu detailed some of the changes that the Patriot Act Amendments Bill would make to the Patriot Act.  He said that the bipartisan group that insisted that more time be taken to include these additional protections has sent an important message about the need for consensus building throughout the entire legislative process.  The Senate is now in recess for the weekly policy luncheons. 12:44:32 PM

11:45 Debate on Patriot Act Amendments Begins Senator John Cornyn began the debate today on the Patriot Act Amendments Act speaking in favor of passing the legislation.  Senator Cornyn expressed his displeasure with the continued debate on this legislation saying that the debate is a diservice to the American people because it does not concern policy and instead is about ensuring security.  Senator Russ Feingold spoke in opposition to ending debate on the bill stating that passing the bill would implement a deeply flawed law without core civil liberties protections for which so many people have fought. 11:55:19 AM

10:30 Senate Convenes at 9:45 The Senate convened at 9:45 this morning for a one hour period of morning business before resuming debate on the Patriot Act Amendments legislation.  At 12:30, the Senate will recess for the weekly policy luncheons until 2:15.  At this time, there will be 15 minutes for closing remarks prior to the cloture vote scheduled at 2:30.  The Majority Leader announced that he fully expects cloture to be invoked.  If that is the case, a vote on final passage of the Patriot Act Amendments bill will occur tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.  Following this vote, Senator Frist stated that the Senate will return to the Patriot Act conference report on the underlying Patriot Act.  This bill will require an additional cloture vote, which is expected on Wednesday afternoon.  In addition, tomorrow morning at 11:00, the full House and Senate will meet jointly for an address by the Prime Minister of Italy.  10:44:14 AM