Political Quotes

“Last year Congress passed a temporary bill with a 6-month time limit that would give us the opportunity to carry out a thorough, thoughtful examination of how to utilize complicated new technologies in the surveillance of suspected terrorists without invading the privacy of innocent Americans. In the months since we passed that temporary act, we have worked in a bipartisan manner to consider the best course forward for permanent changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Despite the enormous complexity of these issues, we reached a bipartisan consensus on the key provisions contained in title I of the bill we are considering today. I believe that title I of the bill before us appropriately provides the intelligence community the authority it needs to collect intelligence information on suspected terrorists. The collection of that intelligence is important to our national security and merits congressional support. That is why I helped write the Rockefeller-Levin substitute amendment that we voted on last summer, why I voted in favor of the Leahy substitute amendment that we considered in January, and why I support title I of the bill before us today.”