Harry Reid's statement today on The Patriot Act

Washington, DC—Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid released the following statement today on the reauthorization of provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.

“This Friday, a small number of provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act are due to expire. Congress is already working to make sure that doesn’t happen. Work is underway on another 6-week extension, and Senate Democrats stand ready to provide law enforcement with all necessary tools to keep Americans safe from terrorism.”

”Democrats supported the original Patriot Act that passed in 2001, we supported the reauthorization bill that passed the Senate unanimously last summer, and we support reauthorization of the Patriot Act now with modest improvements. We must give government the tools it needs to fight the terrorists, but the checks we need to stop it from abusing its powers”

”Democrats are committed to protecting Americans from terrorism. We do not want the Patriot Act to expire, and there is no reason that it should.”

How you react to this challenge right after the Alito defeat will set the tone for the rest of the year. Spines -- if you got 'em, flaunt 'em.

nation of quivering cowards, hiding under thier beds, asking for someone to protect them from a handfull of boogiemen?
Protect me, protect me and I'll let you do anything you want.
It makes me sick.

what is he smoking?

"Dems don't care about security" spin that the R's will be pushing extra hard over the next few days. My understanding is that the Senate worked out a bipartisan version that was an improvement over the original Patriot Act but the House version stinks on ice and the House version is what BushCo hopes to push through Congress this week. I'm guessing that the game plan is to come out strongly in favor of the Senate plan they've already agreed to and use that as a way to fight the House version they don't want. Sensenbrenner had a conniption fit at the idea of changing his committee's version of the bill last month, so could make for some interesting fireworks.

and mostly useless.

The damned Patriot Act SHOULD expire -- die -- be gone!

his ... stuff.

i just posted this thread that says:

i found this excerpt from another post here:

Although Kerry’s announcement Friday, made while the he was on a trip to Switzerland, stating that he would champion liberal calls for a filibuster, won praise from hard-line Web loggers and left-leaning activists, it prompted significant hand-wringing by party officials.

Democratic aides in the Senate said that many within the party were particularly surprised, since Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had asked his colleagues not to attempt a filibuster, arguing that the party would be better served by focusing on the GOP’s recent spate of ethics controversies and by trying to frame today’s State of the Union address in a favorable way.... “The story would have been that Reid kept 90 percent of the Democrats together, which would have been a great story,” this source said.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

This is extremely troubling to me. my initial reaction is that harry reid is leading us no where except down the road of complacency

when they voted for cloture i heard the woman's voice say "reid of nevada aye." then i heard a man shout NO and the woman said "reid of nevada no". (i even posted it here on the alito cloture vote thread--but i don't know how to access it now so i can't link to it) was that why? because he was planning on voting for cloture? and someone kicked him in the shins and he ran and changed it quick!

am i over reacting? this really pisses me off!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2429935

"We must give government the tools it needs to fight the terrorists, but the checks we need to stop it from abusing its powers”

Even the ACLU has this position. We want to take out the bad PROVISIONS from the Patriot Act, although some of the provisions should stay.

or any other criminal act. There is no reason to give it one iota more than it has. The history of 20th Century jurisprudence is characterized by the desire to reign in the all-too-easily abused police powers inherent in the state's monopoly on violence.

Reid must be reading talking points provided by Lieberman.

Almost everybody in the House and Senate support a form of the Patriot Act with the sneak and peak and other civil rights violating aspects removed. That's what the ACLU supports, Barr, everybody.

This is a fight for reform, not repeal. Reid is leading it.