Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we have just voted on an amendment by Senator Lee, which passed overwhelmingly. As we in the Senate are working to defeat this invisible enemy, the coronavirus, we are also mindful that there are other real threats around the globe. That is why the amendment that we just passed was so important to be debated and discussed and dealt with--the bill that is on the floor--because the Senate is debating a bill to provide national security tools to our intelligence community. We want to make sure they have the right tools, the tools that work, that provide national security but also freedom for American citizens. Now, this is unfinished business because these tools under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act have been left on the shelf, expired now for nearly 2 months. Before Congress departed the Capitol due to the coronavirus, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill to temporarily keep these authorities in place. The House Democrats left without acting on what the Senate had passed. Speaker Pelosi left town, and she left our national security frozen. Now, this week, Congress is going to pass a 3-year reauthorization of these authorities under FISA. These authorities are known as the business records provision, the roving wiretaps provision, and the lone wolf amendment. The business records provision, or section 215, as it is known, compels telecommunications companies to provide call records relevant to investigation.…”