Bill Nelson: “Because, what this bill does, by authorizing the activities of the intelligence community, it continues to make the…”

“Because, what this bill does, by authorizing the activities of the intelligence community, it continues to make the oversight function of the Congress--in particular, the Senate and the House Intelligence Committees--poignant and relevant to a community that is not accustomed to having oversight. Our committee leadership, chairman and vice chairman, Senators Rockefeller and Bond, as we say in the South, they have cracked the whip with the intelligence community to get them to realize that this is a constitutional government of shared powers; that the executive branch doesn't just run the show--particularly on something as sensitive as the collection of intelligence. Rather, it needs to be done within the law, and one of the ways of ensuring that is through the sharing of powers between two different branches of Government who have checks and balances upon each other. We in the legislative branch oversee the activities of the executive branch--in this case, all of the intelligence community and their activities, which are absolutely essential to the protection of our country.”