John Yarmuth: “Well, I think that's exactly the case. And I don't blame the telephone companies. I think they were in a very difficult…”

“Well, I think that's exactly the case. And I don't blame the telephone companies. I think they were in a very difficult spot. When your government asks you to do something and says that the security of this country is at stake, then I suspect that most corporations would comply with the government's request. Now, these corporations, being the major corporations that they are, with lots of money, with lots of legal advice, lawyers everywhere, would understand that what they were being asked to do might run afoul of the law. And I would suspect that they did make a decision, being in a very difficult spot, I can see, that I either comply with the government, do what they ask me to do, understanding that the government is regulating me; so they would say, okay, I'm really between a rock and a hard place. I can do what the government asks, knowing it's a violation of the law, or I can refuse and knowing that they are regulating me, that my business might be affected some way or another. But that's all a different dynamic from what we're dealing with. We are dealing with the question of does the Congress have the responsibility to hold anyone, corporation or individual, accountable if they violate the law? And that's what I think we're talking about today and talking about in this long debate.”