Political Quotes

“My colleague is--and I remember those days well--basically summing up the argument of the Bush administration. I and others pushed back and pushed back very hard, because it would essentially, if taken to this kind of logical analysis, basically strip the legislative branch of its ability to do vigorous oversight. So my colleague has summed up what was the position of the Bush Administration. But like so many other positions that were taken during that period of time, once there was an opportunity to make sure people understood how sweeping it was--what my colleague has described is an extraordinary sweep of executive branch power basically relegating any role for congressional oversight to that much--and not on the central question. So my colleague has summed up what the Bush administration said in those early days. I had joined the Intelligence Committee shortly before 9/11. I was struck, because this really was the first example I saw of just how some in the executive branch would try to lay out a theory of executive branch power that really just takes your breath away.”