Iowans Split on FISA Vote

Iowans Split on FISA Vote

His primary challenge safely over, Democrat Leonard Boswell voted with most House Republicans in favor of passage on the FISA bill that includes full immunity for telecommunications companies.

Iowa's other two Democrats, Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack, voted against the bill but were on the short side of the 293-129 roll call. (Loebsack was back in Washington after missing some votes to deal with flood issues in his 2nd District.) Republicans Tom Latham and Steve King joined all but one Republican in support of passage.

Boswell was one of 21 "Blue Dog" conservative Democrats who signed a Jan. 28 letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsing the Republican version of the FISA bill. The issue was mentioned in Ed Fallon's primary challenge to Boswell, but got buried in mountains of mailings attacking Fallon for backing Ralph Nader in 2000.

The bill now moves to the Senate where a similar bill has passed. The House leadership version passed its own version in November which did not include retroactive immunity, but it stalled in the Senate under threats from President Bush, who has said he will veto any bill without the immunity provision.