If we are to assess the rationality of government expenditures to protect the lives of Americans through massive domestic surveillance, we need to compare this program to others aimed at saving American lives.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The American people deserve a budget that invests in the future, protects the most vulnerable among us and helps to create jobs and economic security.
The government must give proper weight to both keeping America safe from terrorists and protecting Americans' privacy. But when Americans lack the most basic information about our domestic surveillance programs, they have no way of knowing whether we're getting that balance right. This lack of transparency is a big problem.
You can look at that by comparing Medicare's growth rates to the private insurance world, to the other Federal programs that we run, by looking at the billions of dollars, not millions but billions of dollars, we waste every year.
We save limited resources in terms of who we are physically screening. The approach will allow us to pay more attention to those potential terrorists.
The surveillance of ordinary people is far greater than I would have imagined and far greater than the American public has been able to debate.
We pass bills authorizing improvements and grants. But when it comes time to pay for these programs, we'd rather put the country's money toward tax breaks for the wealthy than for police officers who are protecting our communities.
But the thing we do know is whatever it costs to save and protect American lives in this conflict, we're going to spend.
Most Americans recognize that whatever the government program is, no matter how essential it is, it's waste.
I ask the American people to consider the legacy this administration has handed us in the defense budget as we spend billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars without the tools and ability to track these dollars.
I believe the only measure of government response shouldn't be how much we spend on a situation, but rather how well we spend.