Mike Lee

I think for purposes of this discussion, even if we were to assume that all of the men and women serving us within the NSA, even if they are acting in good faith and abiding by their own rules, at some point there is a very grave risk of…

the President's preference to work with Congress and that, wherever possible, he would like to get Congress to agree with him, to pass legislation that he would like.

I respectfully but forcefully disagree with the assertion... that he has usurped an extraordinary amount of authority within the executive branch.

it is imperative within our constitutional system that we not allow too much authority to be accumulated in one person

I appreciate the support you expressed earlier for the Smarter Sentencing Act.

Changes should not be measured on how much money they save, but instead, the true measure of any change should be whether it improves the way we recruit and/or retain a world-class uniformed force.

How important are retirement pensions for recruitment efforts and for retention efforts separately?

Avoiding difficult choices, in the name of serving our people or for any other reason, would ultimately risk a future in which our men and women could be sent in to harm's way with less than what they need to accomplish the mission.

Though well less than half of all military servicemembers will be eligible for this benefit, it is still an important tool for recruitment and retention efforts.

Particularly given the fact that the NSA's mission is related to foreign intelligence-gathering, we need to make sure that we protect American citizens in their constitutionally protected rights.

There is some consensus that our federal welfare system is clunky and poorly designed, uncoordinated phase-outs of means tested programs where individuals with modest incomes may see astronomical effective marginal tax rates are part of…

I am pleased to say that Salt Lake City and the surrounding area in my home State of Utah out-performed every other major metropolitan region in the country in that regard in this important metric.

These, in other words, create effectively poverty traps in which people feel compelled not to do that which might be for their long--inure to their long-term benefit, but in the short term they might face penalties.

The enduring priority of the Army is to preserve the high-quality All-Volunteer Force.

Mr. Carson, the National Guard played a key and essential role in the conflicts of the past decade.

I think incentives for work are very important, and I think you are seeing a lot of energy among some prominent conservatives such as yourself, Senator Rubio, Congressman Ryan, around reforming our safety net programs to fix the…

There does have to be a balance struck between achieving our national security goals and protecting the constitutionally guaranteed rights of American citizens.

I am committed to launching these programs right and keeping them on track.

The Fourth Amendment stands to safeguard those rights, and even if one assumes for purposes of this discussion that currently the only people employed at the NSA are people with only our best interests at heart, we still run a risk, even…

I worry about the NSA's surveillance and metadata collection programs and the risks that such programs could pose to the constitutionally protected rights of American citizens.

I understand that a certain level of confidentiality must almost unavoidably surround many of the NSA programs that might be of concern to the American people, to ensure the effectiveness and to keep our enemy actors from working around…

Chairman Leahy and I and several of my other colleagues across the aisle have introduced legislation to try to reform this process in one form or another.

it is rare that a freshman from the minority party gets to chair a Committee proceeding like this one

We cannot let that happen.

And do any of those reforms obviate the need for any of the reforms we are discussing today?