Political Quotes

“Senator Cornyn has now objected to passage of the two bills relating to rule 41, and he is certainly within his right to do so. I wish to offer the theory--not exactly a radical one, in my view-- that if we can't pass bills with respect to mass surveillance or have hearings, we at least ought to have a vote so that the American people can actually determine if their Senators support authorizing unprecedented, sweeping government hacking without a single hearing. There is a lot more debate in this body over the tax treatment of race horses than massive expansion of surveillance authority. In a moment, I will ask unanimous consent that the body move to an immediate rollcall vote on the Stalling Mass Damaging Hacking Act which would delay rule 41 changes until March 31. I don't condone Congress kicking cans down the road. This is one example of where, with a short delay, it would be possible to have at least one hearing in both bodies so that Congress would have a chance to debate a very significant change in our hacking policy. Congress has not weighed, considered, amended, or acted like anything resembling an elected legislature on this issue. There have been some who have looked into the issue, but--I call it Senate 101--we should at least have a hearing on a topic with enormous potential consequences for millions of Americans. That had not been done, despite a bipartisan bill being introduced in the House and the Senate, days after the changes were approved.…”