The following email was in our inbox and we thought it should be shared:
Last November, Americans went to the polls to end our country’s nightmare of warrantless wiretapping and abuses of civil liberties. We elected President Obama and the Democrats to stick the totalitarian Patriot Act where it belongs – in the garbage can of history.
Then, last Thursday, the Democratic House leadership quietly slipped the reauthorization of three of the most insidious provisions of the Patriot Act into a Medicare bill. The bill passed by 315 votes to 97. President Obama signed the bill into law on Saturday, one day before those provisions of the Patriot Act were due to “sunset” or expire.
What’s even worse is that 25 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus voted for the Patriot Act reauthorization. They included three vice chairs of the CPC, Alan Grayson, Diane Watson and Sheila Jackson-Lee, and PDA board member John Conyers!
The “Progressive Promise” on the CPC web site promises “To sunset expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and bring remaining provisions into line with the U.S. Constitution”. The document declares, “We pledge our unwavering commitment to these legislative priorities and we will not rest until they become law.”
So what were these Members thinking?
We have no idea, but you can ask them. Call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Member of Congress and to each of these self-professed progressive leaders. Find out which way your Representative voted here.
If you think that the votes by Grayson, Jackson-Lee and Watson were incompatible with their positions as Vice Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, you can suggest that they should consider stepping down from those leadership positions.
It is telling that, under the pressure of a serious primary challenge from PDA leader Marcy Winograd, conservative Democrat Jane Harman actually voted against the Patriot Act reauthorization. We clearly need to find a lot more Marcy Winograds!
Congress Re-authorizes Patriot Act Provisions – Quietly
The following email was in our inbox and we thought it should be shared:
Last November, Americans went to the polls to end our country’s nightmare of warrantless wiretapping and abuses of civil liberties. We elected President Obama and the Democrats to stick the totalitarian Patriot Act where it belongs – in the garbage can of history.
Then, last Thursday, the Democratic House leadership quietly slipped the reauthorization of three of the most insidious provisions of the Patriot Act into a Medicare bill. The bill passed by 315 votes to 97. President Obama signed the bill into law on Saturday, one day before those provisions of the Patriot Act were due to “sunset” or expire.
What’s even worse is that 25 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus voted for the Patriot Act reauthorization. They included three vice chairs of the CPC, Alan Grayson, Diane Watson and Sheila Jackson-Lee, and PDA board member John Conyers!
The “Progressive Promise” on the CPC web site promises “To sunset expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and bring remaining provisions into line with the U.S. Constitution”. The document declares, “We pledge our unwavering commitment to these legislative priorities and we will not rest until they become law.”
So what were these Members thinking?
We have no idea, but you can ask them. Call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Member of Congress and to each of these self-professed progressive leaders. Find out which way your Representative voted here.
If you think that the votes by Grayson, Jackson-Lee and Watson were incompatible with their positions as Vice Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, you can suggest that they should consider stepping down from those leadership positions.
It is telling that, under the pressure of a serious primary challenge from PDA leader Marcy Winograd, conservative Democrat Jane Harman actually voted against the Patriot Act reauthorization. We clearly need to find a lot more Marcy Winograds!