Heidi Alexander: “last week I said on the Senate floor that serving in the Senate is becoming like being asked to join the Grand Ole Opry…”

“last week I said on the Senate floor that serving in the Senate is becoming like being asked to join the Grand Ole Opry and not being allowed to sing. Here is what I meant by that. Take last week. The Democratic majority leader from Nevada brought up unemployment compensation. How do we help unemployed Americans go to work? I can't think of an issue more important to our country. All of us have ideas about how to do this, but he brought up his idea. It hasn't been considered by a committee. When he put it on the floor, he cut off amendments, he cut off debate, and he cut off votes. Soon we will be discussing minimum wage. How to increase family incomes in America is the foremost issue facing our country. We all have ideas about that. We were elected to deal with it. We have been in a long period of unemployment. We believe the economy is bad for a variety of reasons. We--on this side--believe a big, wet blanket of rules and regulations have been increased by the Obama administration. We want to debate that. We want to talk about it. We don't believe the old idea of a minimum wage is the solution. We are for maximum new jobs and maximum job training and learning opportunities so people can get those jobs. We want the economy to grow. We should be debating that. That is why we are here. But the Senator from Iowa, my good friend and the distinguished chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said, No, we won't hear this in committee.…”