Political Quotes

“Title II of the Intelligence Committee bill provides retroactive immunity to companies that are alleged to have cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. When we are on this bill, we are going to have an opportunity to vote on the amendment to strike title II so the actions of the telephone companies will be subject to legal proceedings. I will support this amendment, which insists on fair accounting for the actions of the telephone companies and proper accountability if they are found to have violated the law. The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program was clearly an illegal circumvention of the provisions included in FISA designed to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans. I, once again, wish to applaud Chairman Rockefeller's tireless work over the course of the last several years to bring strong congressional oversight to the illegal Bush administration's spying programs. This type of lawlessness and misguided legal reasoning by the Bush administration will not be looked upon kindly in the history books. The amendment now before us can begin to right the injustices the Bush administration has committed. I am pleased Chairman Rockefeller's Senate Intelligence Committee rejected the administration's efforts to provide immunity for the Government officials who conceived and authorized this program. Democrats have made certain no one in the Bush administration who broke the law will be let off the hook.”