Joe Biden: “If I can respond to the Senator's basic question, there are a number of items in this bill, amendments we have already…”

“If I can respond to the Senator's basic question, there are a number of items in this bill, amendments we have already accepted, amendments we have debated and voted on--some defeated, some not--that are nongermane in a technical sense, like the gun amendments are nongermane. What this is all about is they only want their nongermane amendments. They want to be able to dictate to all of us what we can and cannot offer on this amendment. Who is to say whether or not it is any more relevant to terrorism that you have a habeas corpus provision in this bill or whether it is more relevant to have a provision like the one the Senator from Massachusetts is suggesting? That is a judgment call. That is a judgment call. I think we should not delay in this. Again, I made a commitment to the leader, the Republican leader, that I would implore the Democrats to reduce their number of amendments and to enter into time agreements. We have done that. We have done that. So we can get to what his objective is, the telecommunications bill, tomorrow. We are able to do that. We have spent, now, an hour talking about whether or not we can proceed. We could have already disposed of my colleague's amendment and the Bradley amendment by now. They would be over, finished, either in the bill or out.”