Political Quotes

“Mr. President, providing for the security of the American people is one of our greatest responsibilities. I salute the officers and analysts in our intelligence community, who are integral in combating our adversaries and protecting our citizenry. The section 702 Prograin, authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, is an essential tool in our fight against international terrorism. An equally great responsibility, however, is safeguarding the individual liberties enshrined in our Constitution, and it is this debate--the debate on the balance between national security and privacy protections--that is so fundamental to our Nation's history and our democracy. The proponents of FISA 702 reform raised a series of concerns about how the program could compromise the private communications of law- abiding American citizens and proposed amendments to address those concerns. I believe the Senate should have had an opportunity to debate, consider and vote on those proposals before reauthorizing section 702 for 6 more years. Unfortunately, the Senate Republican leadership shuttered this critical debate by preventing amendments from consideration. For this reason, I voted against the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017. ____________________”