CQ: Surveillance Bill Will Go to Senate Floor Next MonthTim Starks of Congressional Quarterly reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring the Senate’s surveillance bill up for floor debate in mid-November. That’s despite the hold that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) plans to place on the measure — something first reported by Election Central’s Greg Sargent.
The Senate intelligence committee is still marking up the bill behind closed doors, according to staffers. A joint statement from committee leaders Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Kit Bond (R-MO) will follow when the mark-up concludes, but that may not occur today.
As for the bill’s early support, here’s Starks (not available online):
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., praised Rockefeller and Bond’s efforts to put together a bipartisan bill, but added that “I have concerns” about the legislation. She offered no specifics.
Asked if he was comfortable with the legislation, Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., would only say, “I’ll be doing some stuff in markup.”
Bond said “we’ll see” if other Republicans line up to support the legislation, noting that senators are “as independent as hogs on ice.”
Starks also reports that Reid and whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) want to see the legal documentation the White House gave to the committee about warrantless surveillance before casting their votes.
