Heidi Alexander: “I thank the Senator from Alabama for his thoughtfulness and leadership. As Senator Byrd used to say: The purpose of the…”

“I thank the Senator from Alabama for his thoughtfulness and leadership. As Senator Byrd used to say: The purpose of the Senate is to have a place where there can be an opportunity for unlimited discussion, unlimited debates and unlimited amendments. That is why we are here. Senator Byrd used to say so eloquently that the Senate was a unique body because it provided the necessary fence against the abuses of the executive. That is what Senator Byrd said in his last speech to the Senate when he spoke before the rules committee. He said the Senate is the necessary fence against abuses of the executive--remembering how this country was founded in opposition to the king and the popular excesses. That was what the Senate was supposed to be. I am afraid that ended today. This action by the Democratic majority is the most important and most dangerous restructuring of the rules of the Senate since Thomas Jefferson wrote the rules at the founding of our country. It creates the perpetual opportunity--as Alexis de Tocqueville described--that is most dangerous for our country. He said that when he came to our country to visit in the 1830s. The young Frenchman said: I see two great dangers for this new American democracy. One was Russia and the other was the tyranny of the majority.…”