On the recordMay 25, 2011
I thank the distinguished Senator from Kentucky for standing up for the fourth amendment principles he has articulated today. This is an important issue to all Americans. Americans are at once concerned about our national security. They want to make sure we can identify and apprehend those people who would harm us. At the same time, Americans are firmly committed to the idea of constitutionally limited government--the concept that regardless of how passionately we might feel about the need for certain government intervention, we can't ever allow government to be operated completely unfettered. We have liberty in place whenever government is controlled by the people, and whenever there are certain things that are beyond the reach of the government. Senator Paul has helped identify some key areas of concern that have been implicated by the PATRIOT Act. He has suggested that we ought to at a minimum have a robust debate and discussion over some amendments that might be proposed to the PATRIOT Act before we proceed. Three months ago we had a discussion, we had a vote, and there were a few of us who voted against the PATRIOT Act--not because we don't love America, we do. We want to protect America. We voted against it because we love America, because we believe in a constitutionally limited government, because we want to make it better.…





