Political Quotes

“today I rise to introduce the Due Process Guarantee Act, which passed the Senate in 2012 with 67 votes as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2013. Unfortunately, the amendment was taken out in the Conference Committee that year. It is my hope that the Senate will pass this legislation again this year, and this time the House will support it so that it can finally be enacted into law to protect Americans from being detained indefinitely. The bipartisan bill I am introducing today, with Senator Lee as the lead co-sponsor, is almost identical to the amendment that passed the Senate in December 2012 with 67 votes. The previous version of this bill had a hearing in the Judiciary Committee on February 29, 2012. This legislation is necessary to prevent the U.S. Government from detaining its citizens indefinitely. Unfortunately, indefinite detention has been a part of America's not- too-distant past. The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II remains a dark spot on our Nation's legacy, and is something we should never repeat. To ensure that this reprehensible experience would never happen again, Congress passed and President Nixon signed into law the Non- Detention Act of 1971, which repealed a 1950 statue that explicitly allowed the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens. The Non-Detention Act of 1971 clearly states: No citizen shall be imprisoned or otherwise detained the United States except pursuant to an act of Congress.…”