Political Quotes

“That's exactly right. The individuals in our government. This was never the administration's program. It was never the President Bush program. This was always the American Government's program, because the administration identified what we needed to do and how we could do it and they went to the bipartisan leadership of the House and the Senate, a small group, because if you have these kinds of capabilities, you don't want it broadcast to al Qaeda and radical jihadists about what your capabilities are. You want to use it as an effective tool. But on a bipartisan basis, the leadership of the House and the Senate and the leadership on a bipartisan basis of the Intelligence Committees in the House and Senate signed off on these programs. The current Speaker of the House was briefed four times in the 8, 9 months immediately after 9/11, and you know what? Number one, now she's not bringing to the floor the very changes that she supported in the aftermath of 9/11, but the companies that we went to and asked them for their help. And when these companies said we know the administration is supportive of this, have Members of Congress been informed, the administration could truthfully say, yes, they have been briefed. They've been informed. They know what we're going to ask you to do, what information we expect to get and how we expect that to keep America safe. They're now throwing them under the bus. But the more important thing is the urgency of today.…”