Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we began consideration of this bill on December 17, the FISA Amendments Act of 2007. As my friend the chairman said, it was passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support. It has garnered the support of the Director of National Intelligence, and I believe it is the way forward. I was a bit amused to hear my friend say that the FISA bill was being taken hostage; they were scoring political points. I haven't heard from the White House anything other than they want to have this bill passed. We have sought to protect the rights of Republican Members on the minority side. We have suggested that this bill is so controversial, as all intelligence bills are, that amendments be subjected to a 60-vote majority. The simple fact is, we could pass perhaps a number of amendments that could destroy the structure of the bill we have presented and put us in the position where it would not get the 60 votes needed to pass. My suggestion is that we move forward accepting some amendments.”