Political Quotes

“5 years ago I stood here and called upon the Senate to join the fight against terrorism. Back then terrorism seemed like something that happened far away, in distant lands over distant conflicts. Well, that has all changed. Terrorism has come to America. We have to be a little proactive now. Back then, I proposed a series of precise antiterrorism tools to help law enforcement catch terrorists before they commit their deadly acts, not ever imagining the events of September 11. In particular, I said that it simply did not make sense that many of our law enforcement tools were not available for terrorism cases. For example, the FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. To put it bluntly, that was crazy! What's good for the Mob should be good for terrorists! Anyway, some of my proposals were enacted into law, a number were not. There were those who decided that the threat to Americans was apparently not serious enough to give the President all the changes in the law he requested. Today, five years later, I again call on my colleagues to provide law enforcement with a number of the tools which they declined to do back then.”