Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Utah for his courtesy. The fact is the USA FREEDOM Act that was passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives--that has strong bipartisan support here--is supported by the Director of National Intelligence. It is also supported by our Attorney General. It is supported by our intelligence community. And it is a step forward because, ultimately, the legislation protects the privacy of individuals. I agree with the Senator from Maine that we have strong restrictions at the NSA on the information. However, they were not strong enough, of course, to stop Edward Snowden from walking off with all the information that was there. We had six public hearings on these issues in the Senate Judiciary Committee last Congress. The original USA FREEDOM Act was introduced by Senator Lee and me and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner in the other body. We all knew section 215, the roving wiretap authority, and ``lone wolf'' provision, would expire June 1, 2015. That is why we started working to change it. We are also well aware of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision that made part of the program illegal. I think what we have in the USA FREEDOM Act is a carefully crafted bill by both Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate. That is why it passed 338 to 88 in the House. If we start amending it, we don't know how much longer it is going to take and we end up with no protections. I think that is not a choice we want to make.…”