The president is not telling us the time frame ... what's happening is that the American public is despairing of the situation,

This will allow more time to finally agree on a bill that protects our rights and freedoms while preserving important tools for fighting terrorism.

It's time for senators and members of Congress, especially those from my own party, to be less timid while this administration neglects urgent national security priorities in favor of staying a flawed policy course in Iraq. Let's see if we can remove the troops after we succeed with a series of steps by the end of December 2006.

When you buy toothpaste or detergent or gas, that is now used for the first time in your lifetime or my lifetime to support candidates in so-called 'independent ads.' Same thing for unions.

There's a tendency on the part of Americans, all of us, to say, 'Hey, the Cold War is over, the Soviet Union is gone, we don't have to worry about these guys again.' We always have to be worried about them, we always have to be concerned about them, and we have to be well-informed.

The refusal gives rise to a reasonable inference that the administration has something to hide here. The administration has done this nominee no service by maintaining its intransigent position.