Cloture vote was 80-15 -- in favor of passing the bill and giving telco's immunity on illegal wiretapping.

Note that I don't think things bode any better on this for the next administration -- According to Barack Obama

"The bill has changed. So I don't think the security threats have
changed, I think the security threats are similar. My view on FISA has
always been that the issue of the phone companies per se is not one
that overrides the security interests of the American people."

Senators Dodd and Feingold are making a last-ditch attempt at derailing the FISA bill in the Senate today. They are attempting to filibuster the bill, which appears unlikely to succeed since it isn't at all clear that they will be able to muster enough votes to continue the filibuster.

This is yet another example of congress inexplicably rolling over to erosion of civil rights in the US. For a very good summary of the current bill and the history of FISA, read this two part history by wiretapping expert David Kris at the Balkinization blog.

Part One

Part Two

Update -- Glenn Greenwald chimes in on the bill and Feingold and Dodd's opposition

The Richard Nixon years (1969-1974) saw an acceleration of warrantless surveillance and presidential claims of executive power to wiretap and spy on American citizens under the umbrella of national security and the acclaimed inherent power of the presidency to engage in action deemed necessary to protect national security just as President Nixon perceived this obligation.

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney make the same claims for themselves.

Such Nixonian claims led Congress to pass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, mandating the government to demonstrate probable cause and obtain a warrant before placing Americans under surveillance for national security rationales within the United States.

FISA negated claims of inherent executive power to engage in extra-Constitutional programs and action.

While 16 Democrats in the Senate and 41 in the House caved in to George W. Bush and voted for the expansion of presidential powers through warrantless wiretapping, Wisconsin's entire delegation of congressional democrats held firm in rejecting this unconstitutional evisceration of the Fourth Amendment.

As described in this morning's New York Times, the law gives the "director of national intelligence and the attorney general authority to intercept — without warrant, court supervision or accountability — any telephone call or e-mail message that moves in, out of or through the United States as long as there is a 'reasonable belief' that one party is not in the United States."

Wisconsin's three Republicans in Congress all voted in lock step with the White House.

The law is set to expire in six months; maybe Republicans will grow a spine in a half year and stick up for the Constitution.