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Feinstein ‘delighted’ with McCain, Graham backing on detainee vote
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she was “delighted” that Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) backed her amendment limiting indefinite detention of U.S. citizens, brushing off the caveats they gave before offering their support.
“It was the night of the full moon. I was delighted,” Feinstein said.
Feinstein and the three senators fall on different sides of the debate over military detention for U.S. citizens, and Graham and Levin only said they supported Feinstein’s amendment because they didn’t feel it prevented military detention for al Qaeda members captured in the United States.
Feinstein says her amendment, which passed 67-29, would prevent the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens.
“I was delighted to have their votes, whatever the interpretation,” Feinstein said.
“The bottom line is the vote. We live or die by our votes. The vote was 67 votes — it’s a big vote by anybody’s count on anything that’s controversial.”
While Feinstein says her amendment prevents the military detention of U.S. citizens, Graham stood by his argument that the amendment still allows their detention.
“The way the amendment was drafted, that law of war detention is allowed,” Graham told The Hill, referring to the 2004 Supreme Court case Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, which dealt with a U.S. citizen captured fighting against the U.S. in Afghanistan.
Graham had initially opposed Feinstein’s amendment but said he and the others changed their minds Thursday.
“For two days we’ve been reading Hamdi. We came to the conclusion Hamdi is already ruled on this,” Graham said. “I’m very comfortable. But if there’s doubt about our interpretation, there’s an easy fix and we’ll find that in conference [committee].”
Last year, Levin, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, helped Graham and McCain defeat Feinstein's amendment that would have limited indefinite detention. He issued a statement Friday saying this year's Feinstein amendment was different, and he also believed it did not prevent military detention of U.S. citizens captured in the United States.
