Political Quotes

“But here is the practical problem: The House of Representatives has passed this bill, and one particular, important aspect of this is a warrant vote that was a tie vote. So this bill-- this law--lapses tomorrow night at 12 midnight, and it is obvious to me that we are not going to be able to change this bill in a way that then could go over to the House and get picked up and passed before 12 midnight tomorrow night. Basically, what we are forced with is a lapse in these authorities during the interim, and I am not even confident that the House could even pass another bill even with these amendments. So I don't question the good will and the intentions of the Senator from Illinois. I think he wants to do what I want to do, which is to protect our country and to protect the rights of American citizens, but I think, as a technical matter, that the exceptions he has will swallow the rule that his amendment would establish. Perhaps, even more basically, just through the passage of time, it would prohibit our getting this bill to the President's desk in time to keep these authorities in effect. There is no question that our world is more dangerous now than at any other time in the recent past--I would say since World War II. So I don't think we could risk going dark by having this authority lapse on future collection, either for the benefit of the Commander in Chief-- the President of the United States--or the rest of us.…”