Political Quotes

“let me, first of all, thank my colleague from Wisconsin, Senator Feingold, for his cosponsorship of this amendment, along with a number of other Members of this body who have joined us in this effort. I thank the chairman and ranking member. My colleagues should know, initially the administration sought to grant immunity to all participants in this telecommunications surveillance program. The chairman and ranking member disagreed with that. However, they have provided retroactive immunity to some 16 phone companies. One of the phone companies refused, of course, to comply with this 5-year surveillance program that was granted without a warrant, without a court order. I believe it is dangerous in setting a precedent for us today to grant that retroactive immunity without insisting the courts--as they are designed to do--should determine the legality or illegality of this program. There are four committees of the U.S. Congress that have considered this issue. Three of the committees have rejected retroactive immunity. Only the Intelligence Committee of this body has decided to include it. I believe we ought to strike that provision and allow the court to do its job. That is what this amendment does, and I urge its adoption.”