Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for his generous remarks. More importantly, however, I thank him for his very hard, focused, untiring work on making sure that, for the first time since 2004, we pass an authorization bill for intelligence. I want to say that all of us have been engaged in this, but no one more than the chairman, and I thank him for his work. I also thank the staff, the staff director, and members of the staff who have done an extraordinary job as well. I know that the minority staff has worked hard on this as well, and Mr. Hoekstra, of course, who has been on the Intelligence Committee for many, many years. I rise, Madam Speaker, in support of this intelligence authorization bill. The passage of this legislation, as I said earlier, is the first intelligence authorization bill to be passed since 2004. On something as critically important as our national security, national intelligence, it is unfortunate that we haven't been more successful in the past in passing a bill, for whatever reasons. This is a major step to strengthen our national security. The bill continues policies that are working to help keep America safe from terrorist attack, policies which have been supported by two administrations. It also strengthens oversight of our intelligence community. {time} 1930 In a democracy, we have recognized in a bipartisan way that intelligence is critical, but in a free and open society it is also important that the people's representatives have meaningful oversight.…”