Political Quotes

“I will oppose the amendments offered by Senator Paul, and then oppose the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. I would like to explain in my remarks why. I voted for the PATRIOT Act in the year 2001. In fact, there was only one Senator on the floor--who no longer serves--who voted against it. It was a moment of national crisis. We were told then by the Bush administration they needed new authorities to make certain that America would be safe and never attacked again. I want to salute Senator Patrick Leahy, as well as his counterparts on both sides of the aisle, who worked night and day to put together a bipartisan version of this PATRIOT Act and had the good sense to include in it a sunset. We knew we were writing a law with high emotion over what had happened to our country. We wanted to make sure it was a good law, but we made certain it would be temporary in nature, for the most part, and we would return and take another look at it. I cannot vote for an extension, a long-term extension, of the PATRIOT Act without additional protections included for the constitutional rights of our American citizens. It is worth taking a moment to review the history. The PATRIOT Act was passed 10 years ago--almost 10 years ago--while Ground Zero was still burning. Congress responded and passed it with an overwhelming bipartisan vote. It was a unique moment in our history.…”