Senate Moves To Extend PATRIOT Act

By a cloture vote of 79 to 18 the Senate moved a four-year extension of key provisions of the PATRIOT Act closer to a final vote. The AP reports that facing "a midnight deadline when three terror-fighting tools would expire, the Senate struggled to find a way to stage a final vote in the face of continued resistance from a single senator, Republican freshman Rand Paul of Kentucky. Following a Senate vote, the House was expected to quickly approve the legislation for President Obama's signature."

For some reason, I remember previous PATRIOT Act extensions and the law itself being far more controversial when Bush was in office. Now you essentially have opposition from one lone Republican Senator and the law is being extended for four years without any major reporting or even controversy. I support the extension of this common sense law needed to maintain our security and give law enforcement the necessary legal tools to thwart terrorist plots, but it is worthy of noting how little opposition or controversy is now engendered by the law once Obama is the occupant of the White House.
Tweet