Cliff's upset at Bill Nelson's betrayal on this vote...

The committee rejected by one vote a Democratic proposal that would essentially have cut money for the program by banning harsh interrogation techniques except in dire emergencies, a committee report revealed....

...In a closed session on May 23, two Democrats, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Dianne Feinstein of California, proposed barring spending on interrogation techniques that go beyond the Army Field Manual, which bans physical pressure or pain.

Under their proposal, the only exception would have been when the president determined “that an individual has information about a specific and imminent threat.”

The amendment failed when Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, joined all the Republicans in voting no.

What I find more despicable is that even Senators against torture leave any exceptions, let alone a loophole that you know Bush would drive a truck through, because he'd just determine that for whole classes of people. I mean, who know, someone in Guantanmo for the last 4 years might know information about someone else who's planning an attack? Anyone not able to imagine Tony Snow saying something along those lines?