Political Quotes

“First, through the Chair, I commend the Senator from Pennsylvania. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he has shown extraordinary leadership in convening two separate hearings on this question of the wiretap issue, the first with Attorney General Gonzales which I attended and thought to be one of the more challenging and interesting committee hearings I have ever attended--it went on for a whole day--the second, sadly, was in conflict with another meeting, a Rules Committee on ethics reform and I did not attend it, but he invited constitutional scholars to come and speak to the same issue. Many on Capitol Hill may shy away from controversial issues, particularly if they involve an administration of the same party. I commend the Senator from Pennsylvania for being an exception to the rule on this issue and for speaking up and standing up. I wish to ask a question. After listening to Attorney General Gonzales' testimony before our committee, it appears that the thrust of the constitutional argument justifying the wiretap goes back to a vote that we share, a vote we both cast in favor of authorizing the use of military force on September 18, 2001. I ask the Senator from Pennsylvania if he believed that in casting his vote for that resolution authorizing force to pursue those responsible for September 11 that he was giving the President authority to wiretap American citizens without obtaining a court order required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978?”