Russ Feingold: “on this bill there was not a single moment of markup or vote in the Judiciary Committee. I accepted that because of the…”

“on this bill there was not a single moment of markup or vote in the Judiciary Committee. I accepted that because of the crisis our Nation faces. This is the first substantive amendment in the Senate on this entire issue, one of the most important civil liberties bills of our time, and the majority leader has asked Senators to not vote on the merits of the issue. I understand the difficult task he has, but I must object to the idea that not one single amendment on this issue will be voted on the merits on the floor of the Senate. What have we come to when we don't have either committee or Senate deliberation on amendments on an issue of this importance? I yield the floor, and I yield back the remainder of my time.”