Political Quotes

“this amendment strikes controversial detainee provisions that have been inserted in the National Defense Authorization Act. It would require that the Defense intelligence and law enforcement agencies report to Congress with recommendations for any additional authorities they need in order to detain and prosecute terrorists. The amendment would then ask for hearings to be held so we can fully understand the opposition to these provisions by our national security experts--bipartisan opposition, I might add--and hopefully avoid a veto of the Defense authorization bill. In short, we are ignoring the advice and the input of the Director of the FBI, the Director of our intelligence community, the Attorney General of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, and the White House, who are all saying there are significant concerns with these provisions; that we ought to move slowly. We have been successful in prosecuting over 300 terrorists through our civil justice system. Let's not fix what isn't broken until we fully understand the ramifications. I reserve the remainder of my time. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.”