Political Quotes

“I want to take a few minutes tonight to discuss the Intelligence authorization bill for fiscal year 2017. The Senate has been asked to provide unanimous consent to move forward on this legislation, and I have objected to doing that and want to take just a few minutes to outline why I feel very strongly about this. The reality is, this legislation contains a number of valuable provisions, but once again it is being driven by the same issues the Senate looked at last week, and that was the McCain amendment, which involved a major change with respect to national security letters. My colleague is a valuable member of the Intelligence Committee and knows what I am talking about. But to set the backdrop is again, I want it understood how important it is to make clear that it is a very dangerous time. Those of us who sit on the Intelligence Committee are acutely aware of that. A couple of times a week we go into that special room and come away with a very clear recognition that there are people out there who do not wish our country well. So that is not in question. This is a dangerous time. Given these dangers, it is especially important--critically important-- that law enforcement and intelligence authorities have the tools they need to protect the American people.…”