I understand why people are concerned and may think that seeking appropriate legal authorization for counterterrorism is either a way to seek expansion of war or attempt to restrict the President.

I actually want to say to you that my wrath should really be taken toward the State Department and not yourself.

I think what I heard you say is, he has the authority to carry out the activities he is carrying without really having an AUMF.

As a Congress, do not need to be involved in this subject at all.

Today's threat is about affiliated groups metastasizing across the globe, and the current authorization simply does not make sense anymore.

Well, tell me what that role is. Because if I understand what you said before, the President can carry out the activities he is carrying out without an AUMF.

My hope is the committee can lead Congress to fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities on foreign policy and ensure that we, as a nation, pursue our national defense in a lawful and accountable way.

I do want to thank you for having this hearing. I think it has been very educational for all involved.

As difficult as it may be, Congress has to step up to the plate. It is our duty to have this debate.

Rather than abdicating the responsibility for confronting this threat and leaving it to the executive branch, Congress has a responsibility to both provide the President with the legal authorities needed to ensure our security and to…

And to the question that Mr. Preston raised earlier about Afghanistan and getting back to the fact that the administration has not called this a Global War on Terror, but has--you know, is certainly carrying out counterterrorist operations…

I too rise to talk about our friend and former colleague to many in this body, Senator Harlan Mathews. It was touching yesterday to be at a funeral service where so many people he had mentored stood and talked in conversation around the…

I think sometimes, you know, Congress feels like that even though you have those authorities, which we are witnessing in other countries right now, they are not utilized, and sometimes Congress wants to push you along.

I do not want to sit by and see hundreds arrested, people tortured.

All of us, I think, have had briefings on the human rights violations that are taking place under the Maduro government, and they are quite startling, no doubt, especially with this most recent report.

Venezuela is a deeply troubled country. Forty-one people are dead. The stories of torture and other abuses that our chairman so eloquently laid out certainly cause all of us to be concerned and want to be involved in helping shape a better…

I really do not see any evidence of anything other than people trying to sound tough.

I think what we are seeing today is that we have no strategy and no policy toward what is happening in Ukraine.

I hope this hearing will be such an embarrassment to this administration that somehow they will decide that they have to, as a great nation, put forth some policy that is coherent.

I do not understand. I really do not. I just do not understand the thinking of waiting until the damage is done and Russia has won to put in place things that matter.

I think everybody on the ground is appreciative of the things that we have done, but they know that Russia is far more interested in them failing than we are in them succeeding.

In my view, the next step could be sanctions.

I am particularly concerned about language in a bill that would tie implementation of the New START treaty...

Are you satisfied today with our response to the crisis in Ukraine, wherein we know that Russia is fomenting problems.

I will say that Yatsenyuk, in talking to all of us, would like to have the ability for Ukrainians to at least defend themselves.