Political Quotes

“Mr. President, they spied on the President of the United States. They used the apparatus of the U.S. Government's superb intelligence gathering agencies to spy on then-Candidate Donald Trump, now President of the United States. They did so in a way that was entirely predictable, entirely foreseeable, and in some ways avoidable, if, in fact, we had the right laws on the books. We don't. That needs to change. That is why this moment is a pivotal moment when three provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are about to expire this coming Sunday, March 15. We have known that this day was coming for many years. In fact, it was in 2015 when Congress last reauthorized the three expiring provisions on any long-term basis. The three expiring provisions are, of course, known as Lone Wolf, Roving Wiretaps, and 215. It is to the last of these three sections, 215, that I am directing most of my remarks today. Now, 215 is only the beginning and not the end of the portion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, also known as FISA, that needs reform. We need reform across the board, but the expiration of 215 gives us a unique opportunity to do that. We reauthorized it in 2015, knowing that it would come back again for reauthorization in December of 2019. In December of 2019, we were in the middle of doing other things, so an agreement was made within this body that we would extend 215 and the other two provisions until this coming Sunday, March 15.…”