Progressive Caucus Budget Press Conference by YouTube
House Speaker John Boehner calls Edward Snowden a "traitor." The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein, labels his brave whistleblowing "an act of treason." What about the leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus?
As the largest caucus of Democrats on Capitol Hill, the Progressive Caucus could supply a principled counterweight to the bombast coming from the likes of Boehner and Feinstein. But for that to happen, leaders of the 75-member caucus would need to set a good example by putting up a real fight.
Right now, even when we hear some promising words, the extent of the political resolve behind them is hazy.
"This indiscriminate data collection undermines Americans' basic freedoms," Progressive Caucus co-chair Keith Ellison said about NSA spying on phone records. He added: "Our citizens' right to privacy is fundamental and non-negotiable. . . . The program we're hearing about today seems not to respect that boundary. It, and any other programs the NSA is running with other telecom companies, should end."
The other co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, Raul Grijalva, was blunt. "A secretive intelligence agency gathering millions of phone records and using them as it sees fit is the kind of excess many of us warned about after the Patriot Act became law," he said. "Continuing this program indefinitely gives the impression of being under constant siege and needing to know everything at all times to keep us safe, which I find a very troubling view of American security policy."
And Grijalva said pointedly: "We're being assured that this is limited, supervised and no big deal. When we heard the same under President Bush, we weren't comfortable taking his word for it and moving on. I feel the same today."
The five vice chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are a mixed civil-liberties bag.
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