Political Quotes

“I, too, would like to address the issue of separation of powers. I do think that the administration is entirely in the right when it implements, through the Environmental Protection Agency, the authority given to it by the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. I do have some concern, though, that the legislative branch continually seems to cede the power of the purse granted to it by the Constitution; in other words, the appropriations process to the executive branch, which obviously would like to fund its spending priorities, many of which I don't disagree with. What I am most concerned with in regard to this separation of powers was cited in a New York Times editorial today, and that is the fact that two successive Presidents have now absolved the Central Intelligence Agency for its conduct with regard to illegal detention, rendition, torture, and fruitless harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects. I don't care about Khalid Sheikh Mohammad's pain, frankly, but that is not the point. The point is that we have a responsibility in the legislative branch to oversee the conduct of our Intelligence Committees. When the chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence in the Senate says that the CIA improperly searched computers that were her committee staff members' computers, that is wrong. The entire legislative branch should stand behind her in upholding our responsibilities as the legislative branch, an equal branch under the Constitution. ____________________”