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Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the bill we just passed is a historic moment. It is the first major overhaul of government surveillance laws in decades that adds significant privacy protections for the American people. It has been a long and difficult road, but I am proud of what the Congress has achieved today. This is how democracy is supposed to work. Congress is ending the bulk collection of Americans' private phone records once and for all.
To my partners in the Senate on both sides of the aisle, I thank you. Senator Lee, whose name is on our bill here in the Senate, believes strongly in our constitutional system of government. He has worked tirelessly to advance this bill from the day we first introduced the USA FREEDOM Act. Senator Franken has devoted himself to the transparency measures in the bill. Senator Blumenthal shaped the FISA Court amicus provisions. This was hard fought, and they never wavered.
I also want to thank Senators Heller, Cruz, Murkowski, Daines, Durbin, and Schumer, the other original cosponsors of this bill. They have each worked to help advance this legislation and build the coalition we needed to finally get to our strong bipartisan vote in the Senate for passage. I must also mention Senator Feinstein, who provided invaluable support to get this bill across the finish line. Of course, I also need to thank Minority Leader Reid, who has never wavered in his strong support and responsible leadership.
On the House side, Chairman Goodlatte and Congressmen Sensenbrenner, Conyers, and Nadler have been the kind of bipartisan partners on this bill that every legislator wants in their corner.
I also need to thank Senators Wyden and Heinrich and former Senator Mark Udall, who used their positions on the Senate Intelligence Committee to ask the hard questions behind closed doors and who have fought to end this program for so long.
While we have much work to do, we have accomplished something momentous today. We are a better nation for it.
I also want to thank the many staffers who have worked long hours on this legislation for nearly two years now. On my own Judiciary Committee staff, I thank Chan Park, Lara Flint, Jessica Brady, Hasan Ali, Patrick Sheahan, Logan Gregoire, Jonathan Hoadley, Joel Park and Kristine Lucius. My personal office staff, including J.P. Dowd, Erica Chabot, David Carle, John Tracy and Diane Derby, also worked hard on this effort, and I am grateful for that. I also want to thank Democratic and Republican Senate staffers who have toiled countless hours on this effort, including Matt Owen, Mike Lemon, Wendy Baig, James Wallner, Josh Finestone, Scarlet Doyle, Ayesha Khanna, Alvaro Bedoya, Helen Gilbert, Samantha Chaifetz, Sam Simon, John Dickas, Chad Tanner, and Jennifer Barrett.
We not only worked across the aisle on this legislation, but we also worked across the Capitol. The bipartisan group of House staff who helped to craft this compromise bill and generated such an overwhelming vote on this legislation deserve enormous credit for their work: Caroline Lynch (who along with Lara Flint deserves a perfect attendance award for extensive negotiating sessions), Bart Forsyth, Aaron Hiller (whose wife deserves our thanks as she had a baby just weeks before the House considered the bill), Jason Herring, Shelley Husband, Branden Ritchie, and Perry Apelbaum.
I thank those at the White House who devoted countless hours including Josh Pollack, Jeff Ratner, Ryan Gillis, Michael Bosworth, and Chris Fonzone. I also appreciate the work of so many other executive branch officials at the Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and National Security Agency who work so hard to keep our country safe and answered our questions at all hours of the day and night.
I also need to thank the many public interest groups, on all ends of the political spectrum, who stuck with us despite many challenges. There are too many to name, but without their energy and expertise, this reform effort would never have come to fruition. Likewise, the technology industry provided invaluable input and support for this legislation.
And finally, I would like to thank the dedicated staff in the Office of Senate Legislative Counsel, whose tremendous work in assisting us with legislative drafting often goes unnoticed and unrecognized. In particular, I want to thank John Henderson, Kim Albrecht-Taylor, and James Ollen-Smith for their assistance and technical expertise.
Seeing nobody else seeking recognition, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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