Political Quotes

“First, I thank my friend from Oregon and I recognize the substantial leadership he has shown on this issue over the years. Long before I came to the Intelligence Committee and long before Edward Snowden began to steal documents, Senator Wyden, along with Senator Mark Udall and others, were doing everything they could--without disclosing classified information--to shine a light on the fact that the U.S. Government was collecting massive volumes of data on millions of law-abiding American citizens. My friend from Oregon deserves our thanks for that leadership. Now, after the bulk call data collection program was revealed to the public, the government, frankly, defended it and defended it vigorously. It took a number of months for the intelligence community and the rest of the administration to take a deep breath and really assess whether bulk metadata collection was necessary, whether it was effective, and to consider whether there were other less intrusive, more constitutionally grounded ways to accomplish these same goals.…”