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.
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.