Tag Archives: Minnesota Democrat

Senators push for changes in NSA data collection

Several U.S. senators will push for changes in the way the National Security Agency collects the telephone records of millions of U.S. residents, with lawmakers saying they will focus on making the NSA program more transparent to the public.

Some members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday they will introduce legislation targeting the NSA telephone records collection program.

Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, said he will introduce a bill this week that requires the NSA and other agencies to make public the number of U.S. residents they have collected information on, and how many resident have had their information reviewed by federal agents. The bill would also allow companies to disclose the number of surveillance requests they get from government agencies, a change Google, Microsoft and other companies have asked for.

“There is a critical problem at the center of this debate and that’s the lack of transparency around these programs,” Franken said at a committee hearing on NSA surveillance programs. The secrecy around the NSA surveillance programs is “bad for privacy and bad for democracy,” he added.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Obama Poses 2014 Obstacle For Some Democrats

By The Huffington Post News Editors

President Barack Obama says he’s ready to do whatever it takes to help Democrats win the House next year — a feat that could make the difference between limping to the end of his presidency and going out with a bang.

But some Democratic candidates and operatives in the districts on which control of the House will hinge said in interviews with POLITICO that the message and issues  Obama  has emphasized since the election are creating a difficult political headwind for them.

Obama’s political choices, they say, reflect a tone-deafness to the challenges they face competing for moderate and conservative-leaning seats.

(Also on POLITICO: Democrats not sold on a safety net bargain) To net 17 seats and flip the chamber, Democrats have to win predominantly on GOP turf, in districts that Mitt Romney won and where Obama and his agenda are unpopular. A number of Democrats made clear in interviews that the more partisan posture Obama has adopted over the past few months — particularly on cultural issues like gun control, and to a lesser extent on immigration and gay marriage — is making an uphill slog that much steeper. “I think the tone coming out of the White House … could probably be more conciliatory,” said Jim Graves, a Minnesota Democrat who nearly knocked off Rep. Michele Bachmann last year in a suburban Twin Cities district where Obama barely eclipsed 40 percent. Graves, who’s girding for a rematch against Bachmann next year, added, “There’s no question — Obama has taken a fairly liberal tack in his second term. But I’m not here for the president. I’m here for the people of the 6th Congressional District.” Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/some-democrats-look-for-daylight-from-obama-88675.html#ixzz2NH0acdEO

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post