Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes. It's been a decade since the attacks of September 11, 2001. We are in danger of losing our most precious heritage, not because a band of thugs threatens our freedom, but because we are at risk of forgetting who we are and what makes the United States a truly great nation. {time} 1420 In the last 10 years, we have begun to let go of our freedoms, bit by bit, with each new executive order, court decision and, yes, act of Congress. The changes in this bill to the laws of detention have major implications for our fundamental rights. We should not be considering this as a rider to the Defense authorization bill. This should have been the subject of close scrutiny by the Judiciary Committee. The complex legal and constitutional issues should have been properly analyzed and the implications for our values carefully considered. You will hear that this bill merely recodifies existing law; but many legal scholars tell us that it goes a great deal further than what the law now allows, that it codifies claims of executive power against our liberties that the courts have never confirmed. You will hear that it really won't affect U.S. citizens, although, again, there is credible legal authority that tells us just the opposite. You will hear that it doesn't really turn the military into a domestic police force, but that clearly isn't the case. Most of all, you will hear that we must do this to be safe, when the opposite is true.…”