Political Quotes

“Mr. President, some people are wrongly suggesting that the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012, this legislation will allow the military to capture and indefinitely detain any American citizen, and that the U.S. Armed Forces would be able to perform law enforcement functions on American soil because of the authority conferred under sections 1031 and 1032 of the act. Several people have asked about my votes on the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012. In particular, some people are wrongly suggesting that this legislation will allow the military to capture and indefinitely detain any American citizen, and that the U.S. Armed Forces would be able to perform law enforcement functions on American soil because of the authority conferred under sections 1031 and 1032 of the act. While I do have other serious concerns with this legislation, those particular assertions could not be further from the truth. I want to take this time to explain what the law actually does, what my position is on these issues, and why I joined with Senators Demint, Coburn and Lee to vote for those specific sections but against cloture on the final bill. Section 1031 of this act merely affirms the authority that the President already has to detain certain people pursuant to the current authorization for use of military force. In fact, this same section of the bill specifically states that nothing stated in section 1031 is intended to expand the President's power.…”