Today, the House voted to pass the conference version of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, which covers the funding for the CIA, ODNI, FBI, and NSA, and related programs in other departments.
The Intelligence Authorization bills are often referred to as the “black budget” because the funding levels are not publicly disclosed. The funding is unaccountable to the public, just as these agencies are.
These security agencies suffer from a lack of public accountability and often have nearly unchecked powers for their counterterrorism efforts, regularly running up against civil rights and civil liberties. With President-Elect Trump on the horizon, one would think that the need for greater accountability and restraints would be on the mind of Democratic legislators. Unfortunately, if not unsurprisingly, it is not.
As it always does, the Intelligence Authorization bill passed with a massive bipartisan margin: 390 to 30.
The 30 principled opponents consisted of 6 Republicans and 24 Democrats.
Here are the 24 Democrats:
Karen Bass (CA-37)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Mike Capuano (MA-07)
Judy Chu (CA-27)
Yvette Clarke (NY-09)
John Conyers (MI-13)
Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)
Mike Honda (CA-17)
Barbara Lee (CA-13)
Ted Lieu (CA-33)
Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Jim McGovern (MA-02)
Beto O’Rourke (TX-16)
Mark Pocan (WI-02)
Jared Polis (CO-02)
Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)
Mark Takano (CA-41)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-09)
Pete Welch (VT-AL)
Coincidentally, 24 happens to be the same number of House Democrats who voted for the House version of the bill in May. But there has been some change in the composition of that 24.
Three Democrats who were not present for the May vote but who had voted against the Intelligence bill in 2015 now voted against it: Bass, Conyers, and O’Rourke. They were joined by three Democrats who voted for the bill in May but now opposed it: Chu, Gutierrez, and Watson Coleman.
Six Democrats who voted against the bill in May now voted for it: Katherine Clark (MA-05), Pete DeFazio (OR-04), Mike Doyle (PA-14), Sam Farr (CA-20), Alan Grayson (FL-09), and John Lewis (GA-05).
The number of Republican opponents dropped from 11 to 6. Here were the 6:
Justin Amash (MI-03)
Jimmy Duncan (TN-02)
Raul Labrador (ID-01)
Cynthia Lummis (WY-AL)
Tom Massie (KY-04)
Mick Mulvaney (SC-05)
Given his voting history, Walter Jones (NC-03), who was absent, would have likely joined them had he been there.