Political Quotes

“I extend my most sincere thanks to my colleague from Alabama, who is a very valuable member of the Judiciary Committee. He does not let the fact that he was a lawyer and a prosecutor interfere with the exercise of good judgment. I congratulate him on his very perceptive comments. I thank him for participating with me. I also would agree with him. He made the strong point that sensitive intelligence matters should be handled in the Intelligence Committee. Our intelligence community leaders have said it is very difficult to present matters to a committee when they have to deal in closed session on so many things. Even the things that may in themselves not be classified are often related to classified materials. So I hope maybe we can take a look at committee jurisdiction in the future. I will take a few minutes to discuss why it is so important the Senate pass the bipartisan Rockefeller-Bond substitute amendment without adding unnecessary or harmful amendments that have not been vetted by the intelligence community. There are some colleagues who may believe we can just keep adding amendments without causing any problem for our intelligence collectors. But the fact is, the legislation is intended, first and foremost, to keep the intelligence gaps that existed prior to the passage of the Protect America Act, or PAA, closed.”