Political Quotes

“I thank Senator Udall for his exceptional leadership in our effort to put together a comprehensive bipartisan reform bill. I also thank the Presiding Officer from Connecticut because, as we all know, he has really been the ringleader in the effort to ensure that when there are major constitutional arguments put in front of the FISA Court, there is somebody there to make the case for the other side. So I am very pleased that, for purposes of this colloquy, when we discuss the transparency amendment we have filed today with Senator Mikulski, we have Senator Blumenthal in the Chair because he has been an integral part of the reform effort. I also appreciate what the distinguished Senator from Colorado said about Chairman Leahy. We have had a real partnership with him in working on these issues for a long time. We were thrilled that Chairman Leahy went on our bill and we went on his bill because it illustrates the need to try to make common cause around these issues. And as the Senator from Colorado said, we are talking about bipartisan approaches that help promote reform agenda. As the Senator from Colorado noted, it would be pretty hard to have a full debate on this legislation about surveillance reform. Suffice it to say that there are differing views here in the Senate with respect to surveillance.…”