These intimidation efforts amount to a direct assault on the United States House of Representatives,

Well, ... what if you said something like -- if this happens in the United States and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites.

I think that these countries do not want to miss out on the export opportunities in the United States and that's one of the primary reasons behind this.

undermine the economy of the United States.

For the benefit of the United States, for our country, I believe Mr. Rumsfeld has to resign.

Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words 'in the United States and' after 'appropriate force' in the agreed-upon text. This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas -- where we all understood he wanted authority to act -- but right here in the United States , potentially against American citizens . I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary request for additional authority. I refused.