Political Quotes

“I will support the Judiciary Committee substitute to the FISA Amendments Act. As a member of the committee, I wish to commend Chairman Leahy for his leadership. I think we have struck the right balance to give the Government the power they need to keep us safe but to protect our privacy, which we cherish so much as Americans. I wish to commend the majority leader, Harry Reid, for bringing the FISA Amendments Act to the floor as one of our first items of business this year. I wish to thank my colleague and friend from the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Rockefeller. Though we may disagree on some aspects of this bill, he has been a real leader on an issue of great complexity. Last August, Congress responded to the administration's request to approve foreign surveillance legislation on an expedited basis. Remember, we didn't come to this issue because the administration felt they needed to deal us into the picture. We came to this issue because the New York Times finally published an article and told us about this warrantless surveillance that was going on all across America for years, surveillance that was not approved by Congress and was clearly not allowed by law but continued by this administration with impunity until they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar by the New York Times. Then they came to Congress and said: Well, why don't you write a law. Can we help you write a law?…”