Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, there's been a lot of discussion here today on the underlying bill, the subject of which has broad support. The issues are the PAYGO and the issues are the denial, denial of the Democrat leadership in this House to allow a vote on a bill that passed in the other body unanimously. So much for openness that was promised a little over a year ago. Mr. Speaker, I want to focus my closing remarks on another issue, another issue that has not been taken up and needs to be addressed, and that's the FISA issue that we have talked about so many times. It has come to my attention today, and it will be in a publication presumably tomorrow, that the distinguished majority leader said that the electronic surveillance bill, or the FISA bill, will not be taken up this week. We are becoming unprotected in this country because we don't have all the capabilities that we need in our intelligence community. With that, Mr. Speaker, in this rule, Democrat leaders have blocked the House from voting on a bipartisan compromise on mental health parity, as I had mentioned. I want to talk now about modernizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act into the 21st century. The Senate has passed legislation that will bring this 1970s Jimmy Carter-era law up to date to reflect today's age of disposable cell phones and the Internet. Yet for weeks now, House Democrat leaders have refused to allow Representatives to vote on this Senate bill.”