I am convinced that the domestic use of drones to conduct surveillance and collect other information will have a broad and significant impact on the everyday lives of millions of Americans.

today I am pleased to introduce the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of 2013--a bill to strengthen the privacy protections for email and other electronic communications. Last year, the Judiciary Committee favorably…

We have to carefully consider the policy implications of this fast-emerging technology.

Thank you. Mr. President, I couldn't help but think, watching the debate, that it has been more than 2 weeks since we had an all-too-familiar stalemate in Congress that prevented the passage of commonsense legislation. As a result, it…

what is the parliamentary situation? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is considering H.R. 933 postcloture.

50 years ago today, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Gideon v. Wainwright. That case affirmed a fundamental principle of our democratic society, that no person, regardless of economic status, should face prosecution…

The Refugee Protection Act, introduced by Senator Leahy, includes important provisions that would help facilitate family reunification for refugees and asylees.

Comprehensive immigration reform should recognize that family unity is a core value.

I have spoken many times on the floor of the Senate about Antonio Pomerleau of Burlington, VT. As my wife, Marcelle, has often said, he is her ``favorite Uncle Tony.'' Given his extraordinary service and dedication to the people of our…

last week the Obama administration announced that Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, had been brought to the United States to be prosecuted. Several of us who have oversight in particular committees were notified a week…

I will not engage the Senator from Arizona with questions. I don't want to delay his reading time. I appreciate the work the distinguished chair of the Appropriations Committee has done, and the distinguished ranking member, the senior…

I thank the senior Senator from Maryland for her kind comments. We do a lot. It is interesting. In the foreign aid part, it is less than 1 percent of our budget. But what we do is show the face of America--the best of the face of America…

I am troubled by reports that the Obama administration is becoming more secretive about its national security policies.

I think the American people expect us to, and they should.

I have called on the Department of Justice to be more transparent about opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel.

I think maybe Senator Leahy sits on an Appropriations Committee. I just remember when a Secretary of State named Jim Baker showed up in front of the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Leahy said, 'Don't you have a big FOIA backlog?'

We wanted to demonstrate that we wanted freedom of information whether we have a Republican or a Democratic administration.

Open government is important to every single American, no matter what their political affiliation.

The more transparency you have in any society, the more apt it is to be a democratic and open society.

Our goal was to help reverse the troubling trends of excessive FOIA delays that we had witnessed for so many years.

We really wanted it to work, and we wanted it to work whether we were in the Senate or not.

The Justice Department is trying to gut that out.

It was very simple. As Senator Cornyn and Senator Leahy's idea, it was a great idea.

We would like to see the list of all the OLC memoranda that are in force.

I went to law school in less time.