On the recordJune 22, 2016
there is a lot going on around here. Before lunch, we finished a vote that I was very disappointed did not reach the 60-vote threshold so we could proceed to debate and vote on what I think is one of the more important issues we are dealing with; that is, our ability to stop terrorist attacks. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, we have had the opportunity to meet several times with Director Comey, the head of the FBI, asking him if they have the tools necessary to prevent terrorist attacks against innocent Americans. Simply because of changes in technology, a tool they had before--and by ``tool,'' a method they had before to try to determine who is trying to do us harm--works for one type of technology, but new technology, basically because of an omission in the language that was never intended by the Congress, does not give us the ability to so-call connect the dots to give us the opportunity to then go and seek a warrant for further investigation. This was the vote we had on the floor. We came up just one or two votes short. I know the majority leader made a motion to reconsider so we will be taking this up again. I hope my colleagues who did not vote for this will take the opportunity as a Member of the U.S. Senate to come to the Intelligence Committee to sit down, look at the classified information, and assure themselves this does nothing that invades anyone's privacy rights.…
Source
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