Political Quotes

“I have come back to the floor today to reprise some of the things I said yesterday but, hopefully, to add some more color on an issue that has literally popped up in the last few days. I start with the premise that we have a big, big question in front of us this afternoon and tomorrow: whether we are going to go ahead and continue maintaining the intelligence community and its most powerful tool, section 702. So I rise in support of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, H.R. 7888, which we will be voting for cloture on in a few short moments. As I shared with my colleagues yesterday, no other law is more important to the work of the intelligence community than section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Section 702--I enumerated all of the ways it has been used, whether that is thwarting terrorist attacks, dealing with weapons of proliferation, stopping foreign cyberattacks, dealing with fentanyl trafficking; but the key point to remember is that 60 percent of the intelligence that is provided in the President's daily brief--not only under this President but former Presidents as well--comes from products of 702. It is hard to overstate either the importance of this law or, frankly, the gravity of allowing it to sunset. Yet we are 36 hours away from that happening. Now, I understand that some of my colleagues would like to amend the House-passed bill and continue the process of debate and negotiation.…”