Trent Lott: “if I might just respond briefly, obviously, Senators are entitled to offer amendments, and then other Senators are…”

“if I might just respond briefly, obviously, Senators are entitled to offer amendments, and then other Senators are entitled to offer second-degree amendments. The Senator knows very well that cloture votes and filibusters are an important part of this institution. You may not like it, depending on which end you are on on that subject, whether you are on the receiving end, but it is there and it is an honored and a time-preserved process we use around here. Also, the Senate sometimes works on an issue for years--years--before you get a consensus. I worked on telecommunications for 10 years. This year, and we got very little credit for it, but this year we passed the Workplace Development Act, a consolidation of job training programs. We worked on it for 3 years. We failed at the end of the last Congress to pull it out. We finally got it done, sent it over to the President, and because everything else was going on, it didn't even receive any notice. Sometimes consensus takes time.”