Dick Durbin: “many people think that Congress is irrelevant, unimportant, and wastes time with the floor speeches that go nowhere.…”

“many people think that Congress is irrelevant, unimportant, and wastes time with the floor speeches that go nowhere. Yesterday on the floor of the Senate something historic occurred. Standing right back here, the senior Senator from California, Senator Dianne Feinstein, delivered to Congress and to the Nation a report on the use of torture by the United States of America. Seated on this side was Senator Jay Rockefeller who, as the predecessor and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, initiated this investigation into the use of torture. Her speech, which lasted about an hour, was followed by Senator John McCain, who stood up and applauded her for releasing this report. It is worthy of note that what happened on the floor of this Senate yesterday was an assertion of constitutional principles that goes back to the founding of this country. It was an assertion of the three branches of government and their authority, and the authority of Congress to oversee the executive branch of government, and it got down to basics. Let's remember how we reached the point where this report was put together and delivered to the American people. I will say at the outset that before I came to this job, I used to practice law and occasionally I would go into a courtroom.…”