Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. President. Despite yesterday's vote, I regret to have to say I am going to have to oppose this legislation's final passage. My view is, if this bill does not go forward now, it is possible to get Democrats and Republicans back to work together to ensure there is a meaningful debate on the floor of the U.S. Senate and that this is done with ample time to meet this window that the Office of National Intelligence has talked about publicly, but if that doesn't happen, the Senate has denied itself the opportunity to even attempt to fix this badly flawed bill. This surveillance authority allows the government to sweep up some untold amount of law-abiding Americans' communications. The government says, of course, that its targets are terrorists, and this is about keeping Americans safe from terrorism. I don't take a backseat to anybody in terms of fighting terrorist threats. Having served on the Intelligence Committee for some time now, I can tell all Members and the public there is no question that the terrorist threat is real and that there are significant numbers of people who represent a very real threat to the well-being of our country. Now, if somebody says, We have to keep Americans safe from terrorism, I am all in. I would submit that I don't know of a single U.S. Senator--not 1 out of 100--who is not all in on this fight against terrorism, but that is not what the law says.…”