On the recordMay 20, 2015
I want to thank the Senator from Texas for joining in the battle to defend the Bill of Rights and the Fourth Amendment. I know he is sincere in that approach. There is absolutely no excuse, no excuse not to debate this and no excuse not to vote on a sufficient amount of amendments, to try to make this better, to try to make the bulk collection of records go away. That is what the American people want. It is what the Constitution demands. My voice is rapidly leaving. My bedtime has long since passed. I think it is time we summarize why we are here today and what my hope is for the future with this issue. We have had a dozen Senators come down from both parties, from right, left, conservative, liberal, progressive, and Libertarian. We have had several friends come over from the House as well. There is a hunger in America for somebody to stand up, for all of us to stand up, for somebody to do the right thing, to say that the Bill of Rights needs to be defended, that the Bill of Rights is important. When I think of the Bill of Rights, I think it is not so much for the popular person, it is not so much for the high school quarterback or the prom queen; the Bill of Rights is for the least among us and the Bill of Rights is to try to prevent any kind of systemic bias from entering into the law for the way we treat people. People say: Well, we collect all this data, but we are not abusing anyone. We are doing it perfectly in order.…
