Political Quotes

“while I will not oppose this bill, even though it has not gone through regular order in the committee process, I continue to have serious reservations about further putting off the critical issue of FISA modernization. I also have significant concern with the failure of the majority to ensure a long-term and effective solution to the critical problem of ensuring that our intelligence community has the tools that it needs to detect and protect potential terrorists. Last August, Congress acted on an overwhelming bipartisan basis after months of prodding to pass the Protect America Act and close significant intelligence gaps against foreign terrorists in foreign countries. The failure to clarify the authorities of our intelligence professionals on a long-term basis had clearly jeopardized America's ability to detect and prevent potential terrorist attacks and to effectively collect intelligence on foreign adversaries. The Protect America Act expires on Friday, February 1. This temporary extension will now push that date to February 15. While elements of surveillance under the Protect America Act could have temporarily continued without an extension, the failure to act permanently on the lapsing authorities still ultimately threatens the capabilities of the intelligence community to react with speed and agility to new threats and changing circumstances. We cannot continue to make excuses.…”