Michael Bennet: “I rise today in support of reasonable efforts to reform the Senate Rules. The American people expect us to work together…”

“I rise today in support of reasonable efforts to reform the Senate Rules. The American people expect us to work together to find solutions to the problems of the day. Yet anyone watching this body can plainly see that a few Senate rules no longer work. I believe we should all be cautious and fair about respecting Senate tradition. But blindly adhering to tradition when the American people need us to take a fresh look helps no one. The rules have been changed before, when they needed to be. Anyone watching this place over the last 2 years will tell you that a few of the rules no longer serve us. They need to be reformed. We have seen consensus bills, supported by 80 or 90 Senators, get held up for many months because of a single Senator's secret objections. And we have moved well beyond the intended use of the filibuster for exceptional circumstances and to provide for extended debate. In fact, the filibuster has been so corrosive to this body that we rarely ever even have debate during filibusters. The average American turns on their TV and only sees endless live quorum calls. The American people are counting on us to get past the tired partisan bickering. This is not about Democrats and Republicans. It has to be about the American people, what is in their interests.”