Political Quotes

“As I have indicated, this evening we will vote on the motion to proceed to the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act, which reforms the U.S. Government's domestic surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, as we have come to call it. In 2013 the American public first learned that the Federal Government collected telephone and Internet records of ordinary Americans--even when those Americans were not suspected of any wrongdoing. Earlier this year Senator Leahy introduced the USA FREEDOM Act to end this bulk data collection. This bill has the support of the entire U.S. intelligence community, including the Director of National Intelligence, Gen. James Clapper. It enhances privacy and civil liberties protections, and it continues to give the U.S. intelligence community the ability to gather the information it needs to help keep America safe. Two weeks ago the American people sent Congress a simple message: Let's work together. The USA FREEDOM Act is an excellent opportunity for Democrats and Republicans to work together to pass legislation that is good for this country. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Pat Leahy, has done tremendous work in crafting this bill. I hope we will invoke cloture today to allow us to proceed to this matter. Chairman Leahy will manage the bill on the Senate floor in what I hope will be an open, bipartisan process.…”