Political Quotes

“I say this with the greatest respect to the distinguished chair of the committee--with whom I have worked cooperatively on so many issues--that when she said this amendment seeks to publish names, I would just like to say that is simply and factually incorrect. In no way, shape or form does this amendment seek to publish names, and I wish to tell colleagues that if anyone in connection with this program were to seek to publish names, I would vigorously oppose that effort. I simply just want to make sure the Record reflects that. We have heard by the opponents of this amendment that the intelligence community has already provided the Congress with lots of information about the FISA Amendments Act. However, the reality is a lot more complicated than that. Much of that information is in highly classified documents that are difficult for most Members to review, and the reality is most Members literally have no staff who are cleared to read the documents which have been cited. So the fact is most Members of Congress don't have staff to help them deal with these complicated issues so they are--in many particulars--in the dark about the program, and certainly the 300 million-plus Americans who expect us to strike that balance between security and liberty are also in the dark.…”