In a dramatic scene on the floor of the U.S. House yesterday, the White
House and Republican leadership rigged a key vote on a bill that would
have reformed the Patriot Act by requiring "law enforcement to go to a
regular court instead of a secret court to get permission to demand
library and Internet access records of people it is investigating." The
reform, sponsored by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and broadly supported
by 332 local governments , at one point was winning 219-201, and when
the official voting time ran out " appeared to have been approved by a
213-206 vote ." But even as House members screamed "Shame!," Republican
leaders abused their power by indefinitely extending voting time, using
the extra time to force nine of their colleagues to switch their votes
and defeat the bill on a tie vote 210-210 . Rep. Butch Otter (R-ID), a
top sponsor of the bill who voted for it, said "You win some, and some
get stolen ." [more]
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