Pete Domenici: “Or weaknesses. Some say it is a strength because it is the greatest parliamentary body in that regard in the world. But…”

“Or weaknesses. Some say it is a strength because it is the greatest parliamentary body in that regard in the world. But this budget resolution changes all that. It says you can only take 50 hours on this bill. You cannot filibuster it. The other quality of the Senate that is unique, you can talk forever until a very compelling majority says you have to start using less time, breaking the filibuster. This bill cannot be filibustered, this resolution nor the bills that flow from it, because it is very special and important to the public that we get it done. So in that 50 hours there are going to be debates. The Senator from Alaska is not talking about reducing that. I will tell you the truth, I have thought from time to time that it was really too long, even though it is limited to 50, it is too long. We get to repeating ourselves down here. If I look at this list, many of the sense of the Senates are very close, one to another. We do it over again, over again. It could be lower, incidentally. The bill itself that created this law, this resolution, says if the Senate, by a simple majority, wants to reduce the time, they just vote. That vote is not debatable, that amendment. So if the Senator and I thought we were wasting time and we ought to do it in 20 hours, we could move that, and it would be only 20 hours. But I believe when you are limited in time, that you ought to use it in as substantive a way as possible. This amendment is not going to pass, the Murkowski amendment.…”