Heidi Alexander: “while the Senator from California is still on the Senate floor, I want to thank her for her comments on the Senate…”

“while the Senator from California is still on the Senate floor, I want to thank her for her comments on the Senate rules. I would agree this is something we should be able to talk amongst ourselves and work out. Some of us who have been here for a little while and watch the Senate know it is a unique institution. Fundamentally, most of us on both sides of the aisle know we are not functioning as effectively as we should. And there are only two things that need to happen: We need to get bills to the floor, and then we need to have amendments. Historically, it has been the responsibility of the majority to decide what comes to the floor, and historically the minority--whoever that happens to be--has an opportunity to have amendments. Over the last 25 years, a couple of things have happened. One is the motion to proceed has been used to block bills coming to the floor. That happened rarely 25 years ago. But, on the other hand, something else happened over the last 25 years: a procedure called filling the tree--which is really a gag rule on amendments--was once rarely used but is now abused. During his tenure, Senator Bob Dole used the so- called filling the tree procedure, and used it seven times. Later, Senator Byrd used it three times when he was the majority leader. Senator Mitchell used it three times; Senator Lott, 11; Senator Daschle, only once, this gag rule; Senator Frist, 15. All those leaders used it 40 times.…”