A New Reason to Filibuster

By Massimo Calabresi, Mike Allen

In a risky motivational gambit, Senate Democrats are planning to attack one of President Bush's pillars of homeland security--the USA Patriot Act. The legislation, passed weeks after Sept. 11 and set to expire at the end of the month, gives law enforcement broad authority to search everything from Internet usage to credit-card records--the kind of Big Brother stuff that fires up even the most lackadaisical lefties. And so, despite Republicans' granting some key civil-liberties protections last week, top Democratic aides tell TIME that minority whip Dick Durbin of Illinois plans to lead a filibuster this week. These sources say that with a handful of conservative Republicans--including New Hampshire's John Sununu and Idaho's Larry Craig--opposing the bill, Democrats are willing to risk looking weak on national security in the hopes of delivering a win that could help mobilize their base in 2006. Meanwhile, G.O.P. strategists think they will benefit from what they say is yet another political blunder by the party that resisted creating the Homeland Security department before the 2002 elections. Said Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman: "It seems amazing Democrats would go down this road again."