This Is Surreal: Democrats Chipping Away At Patriot Act

In the days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress put time limits on three of the most far-reaching provisions of the Patriot Act: roving wiretaps which allow investigators to keep up with suspects who use dozens of cell phones to avoid being traced, business records authority which lets investigators ask a special national security court for access to records of a suspect's dealings with private businesses and the "lone wolf" provision which allows investigators to track individual terror suspects even if they are not a member of a terrorist group, like al Qaeda.

Congress renewed those provisions in 2005 and now must give them another four-year renewal in December of this year or they will disappear. Some Democratic lawmakers have long wanted to weaken the act, and now, with big majorities in the House and Senate, they have their chance.

The recently uncovered terror plot involving a Denver airport shuttle bus driver, Najibullah Zazi, who was caught with bomb-making materials and a list of specific targets in New York City, highlights the very threats the act was designed to tackle. Republicans are fighting to keep the law in its current form.

Congress should be considering what can be done to make it stronger.

The embedded video portrays more vividly the need to keep the Patriot Act intact than my inadequate words.