too many families in Missouri and across the Nation are feeling the pain of the housing crisis. They need our help now. This Senate is coming together on a bipartisan basis to provide some relief to deal with some of the real problems we…

as I think we all know, far too many families in America are seeing the American dream of owning their own home slip away. Over the Easter break, I toured the State of Missouri. In every community around the State I met with people who are…

as I described last Friday, too many families in Missouri and across the Nation are feeling the pain of this Housing crisis, and they need our help now. We have 57,000 people in Missouri delinquent on their mortgages, with 20 percent of…

I rise to make a number of points on the two Feingold bills which are before us. I believe I disagree strongly with them. But I wish to take the time to lay out my views of what is happening in Iraq and in our battle against al-Qaida and…

One of the most important means that Congress has for conducting oversight of the intelligence community is through the annual authorization bill for the intelligence agency. Regrettably, we can't call it an annual Intelligence…

Today, I introduce legislation to close a series of statutory loopholes setting free convicted sex offenders who failed to register and notify their communities of their status as required by Federal law. I was outraged recently to learn…

regrettably, the record doesn't meet the issue before us. Waterboarding is not an issue here. Waterboarding is not banned. The techniques that are being used are in compliance with all of the convention. They are not torture, cruel, or…

first of all, we thank all our colleagues for coming to this point where we can have votes and finally get this bill out, which we started in December. It is a very important bill. We have worked together on a bipartisan basis and resolved…

again I rise to thank Chairman Rockefeller, the members of the committee on both sides, and our very able staffs for a lot of hard work, particularly by members of the committee but by many Members who are not on the committee, who took…

this carrier liability provision is an essential part of this bill. If we permit lawsuits to go ahead against carriers alleged to have participated in the program, there will be more disclosures in discoveries and pleadings of the means of…

the FISA Court was not set up to make judgments about the operation of foreign intelligence. As a matter of fact, they said specifically, in a case released in December, that is a matter for the executive branch. Now, there are some people…

there is a clear delineation in this bill. We permit targeting of foreign terrorists overseas, or Americans, with a court order. This doesn't permit listening in on bulk collections of communications involving innocent Americans. The only…

I would note that the Intelligence Committee debated this and accepted a return to the original FISA exclusive means provision, which I think we should maintain, and I urge opposition. S. 2248 already has an exclusive means provision that…

the bill before us, S. 2248, already has an exclusive means provision that simply restates the congressional intent back in 1978 when FISA was enacted to place the President at his lowest ebb of authority under the Constitution, which…

I thank my colleagues, especially Senator Rockefeller, and all those who worked with us. We have had to make a number of very tough votes. We made some good changes in the bill. I thank, particularly, Senators Wyden, Feinstein, and…

we are back on the floor beginning the third week of debate on the very important Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, also known as FISA. We have had a great deal of good debate. We have had a few votes. Thanks to our…

we have made some progress today. We have laid out, through the good work of the leadership of this body, with Senator Reid and Senator McConnell, a means of going forward on Tuesday. We have now had over 2 weeks of debate on FISA. I think…

this amendment modifies a provision of the Protect America Act. I think, along with my colleague, the chairman of the committee, it makes a lot of sense. It lays out a process for the FISA Court to conduct a review of a petition from an…

there is an explicit bright-line prohibition against reverse targeting in the current bill. As the DNI said, it would be in violation of the fourth amendment. But Senator Feingold wants to replace this test with one that would make…

No. 1, the courts are not precluded. The underlying bill, the bipartisan bill, permits lawsuits to go forward against the Government and the Government employees. No. 2, there was notification of the Big Eight--the ranking members and…

this is a great nation because we have kept our country safe. We have kept our country safe, and we are working very closely with the intelligence community. That is why we have a good bill. The intelligence community says we must have the…

I also call the attention of my colleagues to a statement from the Civil Liberties and Privacy Office of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In that statement, the Civil Liberties and Privacy Office says: Concerns have…

I respectfully say that my good friend, with whom I have worked on many measures and intend to work with on many more, is dead wrong. He is correct that the FISA law was passed in 1978, but the problem is it has been superseded by…

What he is laying out is a scenario that does not exist. He is raising all kinds of concerns that are dealt with in the underlying bill. They are dealt with by the Constitution of the United States. They were dealt with by the Protect…

there are quite a few things I disagree with that my colleague from Wisconsin has brought up. No. 1, he said the administration instituted an illegal wiretapping program. That is not true. That is wrong. I reviewed the documents on which…