Patrick Leahy

I see the distinguished senior Senator from Texas on the floor seeking recognition. I wonder if we could suggest the absence of a quorum for just 1 minute.

The reason I ask, Mr. President, is because I know in the House of Representatives they have been concerned that the money might not be there. I think we all want to accomplish these things for the victims. I just want to make sure we are…

You were very forthright and candid about these problems, and I agreed with you on the problems on the budget.

I have great confidence in both of you in maintaining the readiness and the review.

I can only imagine how awful both of you gentlemen must feel, and your colleagues, because you got the news first.

The reason I ask that, I look at what happened 9/11 and hindsight is always 20/20, but you look at the mistakes made where people were not listened to, where dots were not connected.

You do not believe that the right to judicial review would jeopardize national security.

If you have strong whistleblower protection, do you believe that would also give us better national security, not less national security?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for holding this hearing.

The Department of Justice has recommended expanding the number of persons who whom a protected disclosure could be made.

I am concerned about maintaining economic incentives for private landowners to own and maintain forest habitat.

If we lose these bats, it is going to cost our farmers in a whole lot of States, 25 States, billions of dollars in pesticides and everything else, as well as ecological problems.

I started raising years ago the question of what has happened with white-nose syndrome, putting money into various budgets on it.

Lake Champlain means a lot to us. This has been a non-partisan issue in Vermont.

What is happening with the bats is creating a huge ecological problem to half of the continental U.S.

One of the final acts of the 113th Congress was to approve legislation designating over 46 miles of the Missisquoi and Trout Rivers in Vermont as wild and scenic.

I sometimes think you have cloned yourself because you have to protect our natural resources and you have to manage them.

The President's budget does call for increases that would support our law enforcement efforts in heroin as well as opioid addiction in general.

I am also worried about the increase in heroin use and overdose. It has become a health crisis.

I think also we sometimes think we can do a one-size-fits-all. California did that with three strikes you are out, and it darn near bankrupted the State.

Excessive mandatory minimum sentences are wasting money that could be spent otherwise.

I have a little trouble hearing criticisms of the President finally acting when the Congress would not.

We spent hundreds of hours putting together an immigration bill in the U.S. Senate. It passed a couple of years ago.

If the Congress does not like what the President has done on immigration, pass an immigration bill.

Wire intercepts have proven to be one of law enforcement's best tools to disrupt and dismantle criminal entities.