Patricia Schroeder: “I am delighted we stayed in session because I think this is a very tragic, tragic, historic day. First of all, I must…”

“I am delighted we stayed in session because I think this is a very tragic, tragic, historic day. First of all, I must say we heard comments about we had to get on to the people's business. I must say if there were some people's business today, no one on our side knew it because the schedule we were handed said pro forma. That usually means they did not have anything scheduled. So if there was something, we were the last to know. If there is some people's business, I hope the people on that side would tell us what it is that we are supposedly delaying. But I must say, I am very troubled to see what has happened to truth in this Chamber today. We came here hoping there was going to be much more openness. We heard all these stories about openness and debate and all of that, and so far we have constantly seen people choked and gagged and cut off over and over again. Today, I see that as one more example. I am very concerned about how we are going to proceed if we cannot bring issues to this floor and debate them openly and in the manner that we have in the past.”