Amash Amendment Fails 205-217, Along Bipartisan Lines
Supported by 94 Republicans and 113 Democrats
The House voted on the latest spending bill today (it passed), and with it several amendments that were only cleared by the Rules Committee Monday night. Among them was the Amash amendment, which sought to limit the NSA's data collection to targets already under investigation. The amendment failed earlier tonight, by vote of 205-217. Among the aye votes were the bipartisan set of sponsors, Justin Amash (R-MI), John Conyers (D-MI), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) and Jared Polis (D-CO), as well as 91 other Republicans and 111 109 other Democrats. 134 Republicans and 83 Democrats voted against the amendment. Twelve representatives didn't vote.
A lot of the opponents of the amendment suggested there was a bipartisan consensus on the NSA's surveillance programs. Those voting against the Amash amendment included Speaker Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Michele Bachmann and Darrel Issa. The White House urged a no vote earlier today.
But a bipartisan coalition also voted for the amendment, signaling they believed the NSA had overstepped its authority (New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, in support of the amendment, said the executive branch was conducting activities Congress never authorized). That coalition ended up including James Clyburn, who would've been the House Minority Leader had Nancy Pelosi stepped down from leadership as most outgoing Speakers have done, as well as James Sensenbrenner, one of the original sponsors of the PATRIOT Act, John Dingell, Congress' longest serving representative, Keith Ellison, its only Muslim, freshman Mark Sanford, as well as Tim Huelskamp, Raul Labrador, Charlie Rangel and Henry Waxman.
See the whole roll call here.