Stakeout with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) After The Senate Policy Committee Luncheon
Statement
Stakeout with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) After The Senate Policy Committee Luncheon
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SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, good afternoon, everyone. We're on the verge of another significant bipartisan accomplishment. The bill that we will be voting on later this afternoon is a bill that would get a presidential signature relating to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance issue. It is my hope that the House will take a look at the Senate bill -- take it up, pass it and send it to the president. This is a significant bipartisan accomplishment for the Senate. It came out of the Senate Intelligence Committee 13 to 2. This is the Rockefeller-Bond proposal.
All of the amendments that would have drawn a presidential veto were defeated this morning on the floor of the Senate. Senator Bond did a spectacular job in working with Senator Rockefeller to come up with a measure on a very sensitive subject that will significantly enhance and improve our security in the coming years.
So with that, I want to call on the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Kit Bond.
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SEN. MCCONNELL: I'll take a couple of questions if there are any.
Q Mr. Leader, can you support another extension, particularly if it gives House members time to look at the documents they say they wish to look at?
SEN. MCCONNELL: Yeah, well, this bill has been out here for quite a while. I do know that there are 21 Blue Dogs in the Democratic conference in the House who have indicated their support for taking the Senate bill up and passing it. There are still three days to go on the current extension. So I think it's a bit premature to be talking about extension.
We hope the House will take a look at this bill and find it acceptable. I know now that we've acted, they'll be doing that. And I would encourage them to take up the Senate bill and pass it.
Q Senator McConnell?
Q (Off mike) -- the first time in a long time today. Can you talk about the reception that you got, and also, from your perspective, the kind of support he'll get from the conference?
SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, he got an extremely warm reception. We're proud of the fact that the Republican nominee for president is going to be a sitting United States senator. Senator McCain made some gracious remarks to our members and was very warmly received. We haven't had a nominee out of our conference in quite a long time, and we're pretty excited about it.
Stakeout with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) After The Senate Policy Committee Luncheon
Q Senator McConnell, did you also meet with the Fed chairman and then say what you talked about?
SEN. MCCONNELL: You'd have to ask the Fed chairman what he talked about.
Q Are you open to any compromise during conference to provide the -- (off mike) --
SEN. MCCONNELL: On what subject?
Q Provisions on -- (off mike).
SEN. MCCONNELL: Yeah, I don't think there's any need for a conference on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Senate has passed a bill the president will sign. The majority has frequently not liked conferences much anyway. And I think the first step is for the House to take a look at the Senate product over the next few days and see what they want to do.
Thanks a lot, everybody.
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