House Republicans failed in an attempt to insert into the Intelligence Authorization Act an amendment that would have seriously micromanaged the executive branch, requiring the director of National Intelligence's "personal and prior approval before mirandizing a terrorist suspect." The motion to recommit failed by a vote of 186-217.
Worth noting is that the amendment would also have " the public release of unclassified enhanced interrogation technique briefing notes and direct the CIA Inspector General to investigate and report on what Congress knew and actions the CIA took to address Congressional objections." That part of the amendment would seem to be targeting Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who claims she was not briefed by the CIA about the use of Bush administration approved torture techniques, but only told they were being considered.
The goal would be to prove that Democrats, despite having accurately described some Bush-era interrogation techniques as torture, were aware of them when they started being used and raised no objections at the time.
UPDATE: Chris Anders of the ACLU says this is "great news" for several reasons. He mentions that the language that was voted down is fairly similar to language in the legislation Maine Sen. Susan Collins had written shortly after the attempted Christmas bombing -- and the failure of the motion in the House -- suggests "some of the momentum" has been taken away from efforts to micromanage the executive branch in these matters.
Also, there was nothing resembling Sen. Lindsey Graham's bill banning funding for the 9/11 trials in the motion to recommit. "The expectation that most people had was that something like the Graham legislation on 9/11 trials would have been part of the motion to recommit," Anders says. "It's a good sign that Graham's attempt to block funds for civilian trials may not succeed," because it will lack the votes in the House.
-- A. Serwer