Political Quotes

“What the Senator is asking about is a statement made by the FBI Director, Mr. Comey. This is not some kind of hidden article. It was on the front pages of all of our papers and really deserves, as my colleague is suggesting, some consideration. In fact, one of the last things I did as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee--I had a relatively short tenure there in 2014--was to hold a workshop in Silicon Valley on this issue. The problem stems from the fact that with the NSA overreach taking a huge toll on our companies and the confidence that consumers, both here and around the world, had in the privacy of their products, these companies said we have to figure out a way to make sure consumers here and around the world understand that we are going to protect their privacy. So they decided to put in place products that had strong encryption. They felt that was important to be able to assure their consumers that when they sold something, their privacy rights were protected. In doing so, of course, they also made it clear, as has always been the case, that when the government believes an individual could put our Nation at risk, you get an individual court order, you use emergency circumstances, and you could still get access to information. The response by our government, which contributed mightily to the problem by the NSA's overreach in the first place, was our government saying: Nope.…”