Political Quotes

“in 1981, after a surprising election, the Republican leader, Howard Baker, became the majority leader of the Senate, and the Democratic leader, Robert C. Byrd, became the minority leader. According to Senator Baker, he walked to Senator Byrd's office and said to him: Bob, I will never know the Senate rules as well as you do, so I will make you an offer. I will not surprise you if you will never surprise me. Senator Byrd looked at Senator Baker and said: Let me think about it. The next morning, Senator Byrd called Senator Baker and said: It is a deal. And that is the way they operated the Senate in those 4 years when Senator Baker was the majority leader and Senator Byrd was the minority leader. They operated the Senate during that time under an agreement where Senator Byrd was careful to try to give every Senator the right of amendment. He thought that was very important. In return, Senator Byrd was able to get unanimous consent agreements on amendments that many Senators thought were frivolous or unnecessary or not germane, which permitted him and Senator Baker to have a fairly orderly management of the Senate during that time.”