Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to explain what has happened this long afternoon. Originally some of us, namely Senators Leahy, Durbin, Udall of Colorado, Kirk, Lee, Harkin, Webb, Wyden, Merkley, and myself, realized that there was a fundamental flaw in section 1031 of the bill. There is a difference of opinion as to whether there is this a fundamental flaw. We believe the current bill essentially updates and restates the authorization for use of military force that was passed on September 18, 2001. Despite my support for a general detention authority, the provision in the original bill, in our view, went too far. The bill before us would allow the government to detain U.S. citizens without charge until the end of hostilities. We have had long discussions on this. The disagreement arises from different interpretations of what the current law is. The sponsors of the bill believe that current law authorizes the detention of U.S. citizens arrested within the United States, without trial, until ``the end of the hostilities'' which, in my view, is indefinitely. Others of us believe that current law, including the Non-Detention Act that was enacted in 1971, does not authorize such indefinite detention of U.S. citizens arrested domestically. The sponsors believe that the Supreme Court's Hamdi case supports their position, while others of us believe that Hamdi, by the plurality opinion's express terms, was limited to the circumstance of U.S.…”