Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, the gentleman is correct, the Intelligence Committee does oppose this amendment. We oppose this. There was a working group that was put together by the Speaker which had two Representatives of the Judiciary Committee, two Representatives of the Intelligence Committee, two Representatives appointed by the leadership and the chair, Mario Diaz-Balart. Every person in that working group opposed this amendment. Now, the underlying bill already includes a provision of a requirement that the FISA court now create transcripts and that those transcripts be transmitted to the Congressional committees of jurisdiction, which includes Judiciary and Intelligence. We will already know what is happening. The difference is whether or not you pull up a seat and you eat popcorn while you are watching the court. I want to go back to the Biggs amendment here for a second because the Biggs/Jayapal amendment is really what is dominating this whole debate. This amendment, if you just read the front page of it, clearly says that it is about the intelligence that is gathered from foreigners abroad. This is not about Americans' data. Americans' data is safe, constitutionally protected. They are inboxed and outboxed. No amendment on this floor can change the Constitution. No statute on this floor can change the Constitution. The statute that we are talking about is 702, which is the spying on foreigners abroad.…”