Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I will yield myself just a minute and a half. I would ask that the Republicans have their speaker--if they are going to be using their time--to come immediately after me; otherwise, it would not be fair for us to be using up all of our time in advance. Mr. President, this morning a number of Republican Senators stated they would support the current filibuster of this bill because they were afraid that if we take up the bill, we are going to have a closed process that would limit their ability to offer amendments. The majority leader has addressed this issue. He specifically said last Thursday that he is ``willing to work with Republicans on a process that will permit the Senate to consider these matters and complete the bill as soon as possible.'' He is very clear on this. He is not trying to prevent other amendments from being offered. However, there are not going to be any amendments, there is not going to be any opportunity to vote on any amendments unless we get 60 votes to overcome the current filibuster and proceed to the bill. It makes no sense for Senators to block all amendments, which is what the effect will be if we do not end this filibuster, to deny consideration of this bill so we can consider amendments. It makes no sense to do that under the guise of wanting an open amendment process. We are not going to have any amendments unless we can get to this bill, unless we end this filibuster. Amendments are appropriate.…”