I think Senator Alexander's idea of trying to take this up a little bit more formally, particularly with the new Senators, is a very good one.

You note in your testimony the importance of keeping up pressure on al-Qa'ida in the Federal Administered Tribal Areas.

And you mentioned 38 matters that are open directly related to the current financial crisis.

We see that number potentially rising into the hundreds, and as the number of bank failures... the potential for fraud involved in some of those increases.

Do you feel you have all the authorities that you need by statute in order to generate the cooperation, the support, and the information that you need to do your job?

It has distinguished itself in that regard.

I could not agree more with Senator Graham's concern about that.

I urge my colleagues, at their leisure, to reconsider the wisdom of that vote, perhaps in conference. The Roger Williams Park Zoo is a wonderful facility. Children come through it to get educated through schools. People are employed there…

I rise today to discuss a feature of the economic recovery legislation that will both create jobs in the short term and help us confront the long-term economic challenges that are facing us. Clearly, creating jobs is a paramount goal of…

Obviously, that's not my understanding of what rule of law means, nor of what Executive Orders amount to.

I think we need to have a coherent and consistent approach, I think an approach that involves accommodation as much as we can.

We'll be keeping the record open formally for a week for written questions.

Executive privilege was used as a stonewall, and frankly they didn't care whether the theories were true or not.

It has operational and political value because of the sovereignty problem.

I have been a persistent and animated critic of what has happened to the Department of Justice under Attorney General Ashcroft, Attorney General Gonzales, and Attorney General Mukasey.

I think it's important that there be some credibility about this review that marks this as something different.

I have a special regard for the Department of Justice. I know it to be an essential bulwark of our democracy and our freedom.

I think that whole question requires a fairly thorough review of where we've been.

The number ran up close to 800 that were contained in that facility. About more than two-thirds of those detained have already been released by the previous administration.

This was an effort to, for want of a better word, corrupt the office so that it would do what it was told rather than provide legal advice that was dispassionate and honest.

It's not that small. I mean, when I went over to the old Executive Office building to read the super-classified opinions...

everything was so classified that they took my notes away, and I was only allowed to read my own notes over in the secure confines of the Intelligence Committee.

I have many disagreements with Attorney General Mukasey, but to his credit, he put that firewall back up.

I don't think they get past the laugh test, frankly.

I thought in the last administration that we had to introduce the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration to the head of the Department of Health and Human Services and remind them that they worked for the same President and wondered…