Sheldon Whitehouse: “I consider it a great personal honor to join him in sponsoring this important amendment. We face, as Senator Specter…”

“I consider it a great personal honor to join him in sponsoring this important amendment. We face, as Senator Specter said, the critical balance between freedom and security, which will always be difficult to maintain as long as a threat of terrorism looms. As we all know, one of the many difficult issues that balance presents to us is the question of whether to grant immunity to telecommunications carriers who may have assisted the Government in this surveillance program. On the one hand, the administration has called for a blanket grant of immunity to these companies. On the other hand, others have proposed preserving the status quo.”