Political Quotes

“we have been informed that President Bush's radio address tomorrow will be about the PATRIOT Act. It is not a surprise. This is an important issue. It is one we should discuss and should discuss as a nation. We passed the PATRIOT Act because of our concern about the threat of terrorism. It is an act with over 100 different provisions in it. It was passed with only one dissenting vote in the Senate. It included sunset provisions on some controversial parts of it, so that 4 years after we passed it we could take another look to make sure that, in fact, we had done the right thing, we were not overstepping. We want to give our Government enough power to protect us, but we certainly don't want to surrender our basic rights and liberties if it is not needed. So we had the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act up before us and debated it in the Senate Judiciary Committee on which I serve. We reached a bipartisan consensus for reauthorizing that act, a unanimous vote at the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have never seen it on an issue of this magnitude, but it happened. I believe it was an indication that there is a reasonable way to craft the PATRIOT Act so that, in fact, it serves our needs of national security but does not go too far. That bill then passed the Senate on a voice vote. There was no controversy, no debate, because we had struck a legitimate bipartisan compromise. Then the bill went to conference, and in conference other forces were at work.…”