Trent Lott: “first I want to speak on the broader subject, and with only 5 minutes, I don't have much time. But I am really worried…”

“first I want to speak on the broader subject, and with only 5 minutes, I don't have much time. But I am really worried that what we are doing here is not enough. I understand that the whips, who have been designated to carry out this task by our leaders, Senator McConnell and Senator Reid, have worked very hard to try to accommodate everybody's interests and concerns, but there is something bigger here than just individual interests and concerns or turf or jurisdiction, and I feel a lot of that is still at play. If we do not do anything more to this resolution than what is already in it, it is worth having. I do not want to complain about that. At least we are making the Intelligence Committee permanent. There are a number of things that are in this resolution that are worth having, but I am worried it is not enough. I don't like going against my friends and colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, Senator Stevens, Senator Cochran. I have faith in both of them. But I don't have faith in the way the system is set up now. The way things are spread out all over this institution, both on intelligence and homeland security, it is a prescription not to be able to do our job. That really does bother me. I didn't feel this way until I went on the Intelligence Committee. But I say to my colleagues, after a year and a half on the Intelligence Committee, I am really scared.…”