Heidi Alexander: “before we go back to the Senator from Arkansas, I have a question I wish to ask the Senator from South Carolina. First…”

“before we go back to the Senator from Arkansas, I have a question I wish to ask the Senator from South Carolina. First, I am not sure he was here when I referred to the Grand Ole Opry. I haven't been doing that because it is in Nashville. But it has occurred to me over the last several months that there is a lot about what we do that is like the Grand Ole Opry. I know a lot of performers of the Opry, members of the Opry. They sing and pick in every little bar in the South for 20 years until finally, by skill and by accident, they get an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry. What would they think if they joined the Grand Ole Opry and then they weren't allowed to sing? That is kind of the way we are in the Senate. We are lucky to be here. We are political accidents in a sense. But we worked hard to be here--almost all of us on both sides. So the idea of coming here, working hard to be here, being elected by the people who sent us, and then not being allowed to amend or vote or debate is unacceptable. That is what we want to do with these 12 bills. The Senator from South Carolina reminded me of a specific example of that--the deep ports in the United States. If we are going to export American-made goods and create more jobs in our country, we are going to have to have deep ports. We have a real problem in the way we finance that in the Federal Government, and we would be a stronger country if we could discuss that in the Appropriations Committee.…”