Dutch Ruppersberger: “Chairman Rogers, I thank you for your comments. I also have the same comments for you. When we took the leadership of…”

“Chairman Rogers, I thank you for your comments. I also have the same comments for you. When we took the leadership of this committee, we knew that the stakes were so high and that we had to work together on behalf of the people of the United States of America. We came together with Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, moderates, all realizing that we had to come together. Because of your leadership, because of your focus, we have been able to pass FISA, and hopefully we will be able to pass these bills today. We are going to miss you, but you will always be there as my friend, and I will always respect you as a great American who cares about the United States. Thank you. Now, we need to pass this Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015 to ensure rigorous oversight and accountability over all U.S. intelligence agencies and all U.S. intelligence activities. This is so important. We cannot go back to the days when we give the intelligence agencies a blank check to spend as they see fit. We must have oversight. Remember, Congress specifically amended the National Security Act of 1947 to replace blanket intelligence appropriations with specific authorization. Why did we do this? To ensure that our intelligence agencies spend money only on programs of which Congress is informed and approves. So today we need to make sure we maintain this means of critical oversight by passing the bill.…”