Robert Byrd

It is to force there to be a group of senators on either side who have to respect one another's views so that they work together and produce 60 votes on important issues.

To me the most powerful majority leader I ever witnessed was Robert Byrd in the period of '77 to '81.

What makes this body unique is the unlimited right to amend and the unlimited right to debate.

Just the whisper of opposition brings the world's greatest deliberative body to a grinding halt.

The Senate has been the last fortress of minority rights and freedom of speech in this republic for more than two centuries.

The right to filibuster anchors this necessary fence. But it is not a right intended to be abused.

The challenges before our nation are too grave, too numerous, for the Senate to be rendered impotent to address them.

Sometimes, the minority may be right.

I put holds on people. I don't like it at all. When I do so, I do it publicly.

I strongly commend the Majority Leader for this progress, and I strongly caution my colleagues, as some propose to alter the rules to severely limit the ability of a minority to conduct a filibuster.

I find this tactic contrary to every Senator's duty to act in good faith.

I believe that efforts to change or reinterpreted the rules in order to facilitate expeditious action by a simple majority are grossly misguided. The Senate is the only place in government where the rights of a numerical minority are so…