The US House of Representatives this week voted down an amendment to eliminate funding for the National Security Agency's collection of metadata from domestic phone calls. Looking at the vote count, one can make the argument that Texas' congressional delegation, particularly Democrats, were the swing faction killing the amendment, allowing the NSA to continue its massive domestic surveillance program. The final vote was 205 Ayes and 217 Nays, with 12 not voting. So if seven members had voted differently, it would have passed.
As it happens, although 57% of Democrats in Congress supported the amendment (111-83), two-thirds of Texas Democrats (eight members) voted to kill it, including several Grits thinks should know better: The no votes from that group were Sheila Jackson Lee, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ruben Hinojosa, Joaquin Castro, Marc Veasey, Al Green, Henry Cuellar and Pete Gallego. If those eight votes go the other way, the amendment would have passed.
Texas' GOP delegation was similarly split, with 10 members voting for the amendment and 14 against. Republicans voting against the amendment were Michael McCaul, Sam Johnson, Jeb Hensarling, John Culberson, Kevin Brady, Mike Conaway, Kay Granger, Mac Thornberry, Bill Flores, Randy Neugbauer, Lamar Smith, Pete Olson, John Carter, and Pete Sessions. Overall, 94 Republicans voted for the amendment, and 134 against it.
One wonders whether some of the Republicans on the list might find themselves defending this vote in next year's primary against Tea-Party oriented challengers. I doubt any of the Democrats will face electoral consequences for the vote, but they still should be ashamed of themselves. Texas pols aren't the only reason the amendment failed, but had they shown a little more backbone, they could have been the reason it succeeded.
Note: The original story misstated the Texas GOP vote count and has been corrected.
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