On the recordDecember 1, 2017
I say to Senator Wyden, I don't want to be too heavy about this, but everybody shouldn't assume that the way in which we run our country just continues on forever. Democracy is unnatural. We don't run other parts of our lives by democratic vote. We decided to run our country in a way that allows everybody to participate. And, you know, let's be honest--people have been asking some questions recently about the health of our democracy, and maybe that was a big part of the subtext of the 2016 election. This doesn't help win people's faith back in the democratic experiment when they see this casualness afforded to a debate that affects millions of Americans. It hurts us all when a bill this big, this important, gets rammed through under the cover of night. It starts to atrophy people's faith in the entire way that we go about running our government. I understand that Congress is not that popular. It would be hard to get less popular than we are today. If we ever want to start to climb our way back to legitimacy, then we have to trust the people to be part of the process of drafting and passing legislation rather than being afraid of the people and burying a bill in the dead of the night, as is happening now. I yield back. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time? The Senator from Maryland.
