Hoosier Challengers Go on the Offensive

Last week Congress voted on whether or not the FISA law should be brought into the 21st Century.  FISA, a law governing the use of wiretaps and other measures used in surveillance of foreign individuals, was enacted in 1978 and it contains some serious loopholes that terrorists and their accomplices can use to escape detection.  In order to prevent another terrorist attack on the United States, FISA had to be modified after 9/11.  After the Democrats took control of Congress the law expired and Democrats decided that the political hot potato (so-called warrant-less wiretapping) was a little to hot to warrant a long term solution. 

In late January Congress passed a 15 day extension of the law.  That extension ran out last week so Congress once again had the chance to permanently update our intelligence laws for the 21st Century.  Unfortunately, House Democrats were either confused about what needs to take place or were apathetic to passing legislation that would protect the American people.  Two of Indiana’s very strong Republican candidates currently running against incumbent Democrats took the opportunity this vote provided to clarify how they differed from their opponents on the issue of national security.

Down in the 9th district Mike Sodrel had this to say about the vote:

“It is irresponsible for House Democrats to refuse to move the Senate’s bipartisan bill and let the Protect America Act expire.

“Democrats in Congress have decided to go home instead of doing their job by providing the tools our intelligence people need to protect Americans from terrorists”.

Up in the 2nd district Luke Puckett had this to say about the subject:

“Without the act in place, vital programs would be plunged into uncertainty and delay, and capabilities would continue to decline. Under the Protect America Act, we obtained valuable insight and understanding, leading to the disruption of planned terrorist attacks. Expiration would lead to the loss of important tools our workforce relies on to discover the locations, intentions and capabilities of terrorists and other foreign intelligence targets abroad.”

Puckett’s opponent, Joe Donnelly (D), played an interesting role in last week’s events.  On Wednesday morning Donnelly bucked party leadership and joined the Republicans on a roll call vote on the subject.  In the afternoon, however, Donnelly changed his position and joined his party leadership in the afternoon vote on the bill.  Either Joe Donnelly doesn’t know what his position is or he’s just not interested in protecting the American people and providing our national intelligence agencies with the legal tools that they need.

This fall the choice for voters accross America will be clear: The Republican candidates have pledged to do whatever it takes to win the defining conflict of our era, the Democratic candidates have continually failed to decisivly act on key proposals that have real consequences for our security.