Political Quotes

“we have had a lengthy debate, and in the end I decided to vote against final passage of S. 2248, the FISA Amendments Act of 2007. First, I commend Senators Rockefeller and Bond for recognizing immediately that the Protect America Act, passed in August, needed modifications. S. 2248 does improve FISA procedures. The bill increases the role of the FISA Court with respect to targeting. It mandates FISA Court review and approval of the minimization procedures governing the protection of identities and nonpublic information about U.S. persons. This bill also provides statutory rules for the use of information acquired under it. However, when S. 2248 came before the full Senate for debate, I, and many of my colleagues, believed that additional protections and clarifications could and should be added. But it soon became clear that all such measures would be defeated. I was particularly disappointed that Senator Feinstein's amendment on exclusivity did not pass. I believe it is very important to reiterate that FISA is the exclusive means for conducting surveillance on Americans for foreign intelligence purposes.”