Barney Frank Indicates that House Dems May Stand Their Ground on Supplemental Bill that Includes Photo Protection Act

Jane Hamsher contacted Barney Frank's office to ask why he is now supporting the supplemental appropriations bill that will continue fund the war in Afghanistan after he had initially voted against its passage. Barney Frank called Hamsher back himself and oddly enough, the conversation quickly turned to the "Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009" which is actually an amendment to the supplemental. Here is Hamsher's account:

I contacted Frank's office to ask why he switched his vote. He called me back himself, and immediately started talking before I had a chance to say "hello."

"The IMF bill is a much better bill," he said. "The Republicans are taking advantage of the fact that the original vote was very lopsided in order to defeat the IMF. The dilemma is that the supplemental would pass anyway, and if enough of us don't stand up for it now the IMF provisions will fail."

I asked him if he was basically saying that the IMF was a worthwhile trade-off for the supplemental. He shifted gears quickly, read me like a dirty book and said that it was also the only chance to get the Lieberman FOIA amendment out of there.

Huh?

"You can have the war and the IMF, or the war and the pictures," he said.

I admit I didn't realize that when the Senate passed Joe Lieberman's Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act of 2009 that it was attached to the supplemental. The amendment, supported by Obama, allows the government to suppress photographs of detainee abuse even if FOIA requires disclosure. It passed on a voice vote, and as Chairman Frank was quick to point out, the Republicans and ConservaDems who were hinky about funding the IMF would have no trouble with Lieberman's FOIA travesty.

"I told them [the administration] that they have no chance of passing this if the pictures are in it," said Frank. "There are many Democrats who are very upset about that."

"So are the photos still in there?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said.

"Well, you say that the bill won't pass until the pictures are out -- are they in the conference report?"

"This isn't a quiz!" he snapped. "There is no conference report. I believe it will come out. I let them know that if it doesn't come out, it won't pass. If they insist on the photos, they won't get the IMF."

I called the Speaker's office after we spoke and found out that despite the fact that the vote was scheduled for Friday, no conferees had yet been assigned. Which means that this whole thing is a mess.

And they know it.