I found a story that dates back to shortly before the Patriot Act was signed on by GWB, that the Patriot Act itself was an Algore idea. As a matter of fact, this bit of information is also corroborated by Newt Gingrich himself when he said that the idea of putting together a Homeland Security administration was a agreeable bipartisan effort in the late 1990's. Some critics at that time said the plan wouldn't do enough, or would do too much.
Bush and the Republican's put the idea on paper, sign it into law, and the Democrats are mad. They've been angry with the Bush administration because he's turned decades of talk into action.