Political Quotes

“Mr. President, tonight, I voted against final passage of the Defense authorization bill, and I rise now to explain why I voted against it and the considerable concerns I have about the vast expansion of the powers of detention of American citizens that were contained in that bill. These provisions related to the detention of American citizens-- without the standard rights of the fifth and sixth amendment--have been an object of intense debate on the floor of the Senate over the last several days. As a Senator who has now been here 3 years, I can say unequivocally that this debate was extremely valuable. Folks came from both parties on both sides of this issue and shared their insights, both from their life experiences, from their scholarly knowledge of the law, and certainly from their philosophy, and I commend all who participated in that debate. I listened to a great deal of that debate on both sides. I thought this was extraordinarily important; issues surrounding our Bill of Rights and the rights of American citizens, protection from the abuse of power. Some came to this floor and said that essentially the detention provisions in this bill simply clarify existing law and will enhance our national security, and they did so with sincere hearts and sharp minds.…”