Trent Lott: “I begin by pointing out that in order to come off of a quorum call I had to use this procedure of instructing the…”

“I begin by pointing out that in order to come off of a quorum call I had to use this procedure of instructing the Sergeant at Arms to get the presence of the Members here. It is the first time I ever had to do that as majority leader, and I do not like to do it. I remember grumbling loudly when it was done by a former majority leader. In fact, I usually voted no because I hated the procedure. However, I had no alternative, because I was trying to come off of a quorum call so we could have some discussion about the situation we find ourselves in. That exercise is reflective of why we are in this situation right now. Apparently, Mr. President, there is a planned concerted effort to have gridlock in the U.S. Senate. We need to do the people's business. I am committed to that. I still think that the best thing to do for ourselves politically is to do what is right for the country, and for us to be locked down and not able to move any legislation after the exercise we went through to vote on the small business tax relief package and the minimum wage, to sort of clear the decks and move on to other issues, and now I find that instead of gridlock being broken it is beginning to get worse every day. Mr. President, we have now in this Congress had to file 73 cloture motions, I presume probably the largest in history.”