Russ Feingold: “the upcoming cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 2271, introduced by my friend Senator Sununu, is the first…”

“the upcoming cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 2271, introduced by my friend Senator Sununu, is the first opportunity for my colleagues to go on record on whether they will accept the White House deal on PATRIOT Act reauthorization. Back in December, 46 Senators voted against cloture on the conference report. I think it's clear by now that the deal makes only minor changes to that conference report. The Senator from Pennsylvania, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and primary proponent of the conference report in this body, was quoted yesterday as saying that the changes that the White House agreed to were ``cosmetic.'' And then he said, according to the AP, ``But sometimes cosmetics will make a beauty out of a beast and provide enough cover for senators to change their vote.'' The Senator from Alabama said on the floor yesterday: ``They're not large changes, but it made the Senators happy and they feel comfortable voting for the bill today.'' I agree with both of my adversaries on this bill that the changes were minor and cosmetic. I explained that at length yesterday, and no one else other than Senator Sununu came down to the floor to defend the deal. Some of my colleagues have been arguing, however, that we should go along with this deal because the conference report, as amended by the Sununu bill, improves the PATRIOT Act that we passed 4\1/2\ years ago.…”