John Cornyn: “I commend the ranking member and chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence for the outstanding work they have…”

“I commend the ranking member and chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence for the outstanding work they have done on this critical piece of legislation, passing it in the Intelligence Committee by a vote of 13 to 2, which was no easy feat. This passed in the Senate by a strong bipartisan vote of 68 to 29, I believe. It is about as strong a bipartisan vote as you can possibly get. This is a well-thought-out piece of legislation that, once sent over to the House of Representatives, we were told the House of Representatives, rather than to deal with this legislation, would simply decide to fold their tent and go home. That is the height of irresponsibility. The Senator from Missouri described why it is so important for us to be able to listen to our enemies: because, simply, it saves American lives. We learned a harsh lesson on September 11, 2001, which is that we are not safe even within our own shores. There are those who believe in a radical ideology that celebrates the murder of innocent men, women, and children, and who are willing to use instruments of destruction, whether they be primitive tools such as flying an airplane into a building, or chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons--whatever they can get--to kill innocent civilians. We have to do everything in our power to protect ourselves.…”