Cord Byrd: “I thank the Chair. May I take just a moment here to compliment the Republican Senators who have been sitting in the…”

“I thank the Chair. May I take just a moment here to compliment the Republican Senators who have been sitting in the chair from the very beginning of this session. In the main, I think they have done very well. They have presided over the Senate with dignity, except in a few cases when there probably ought to be a little less talking up there at the desk because the cameras are often focused right on that desk. State legislators, professors, students, and the people at large expect this Senate to be the premier deliberative body in the world. It is not a State legislature. And I do not say that to cast any aspersions on State legislatures. I have been a member of both houses many years ago in West Virginia. Generally speaking, the presiding officers have been alert and have been paying attention to the debate, as they should. Madam President, the original Constitution and the amendments heretofore adopted serve two basic functions: One, they create a structure of government and establish three departments thereof: the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial, and they allocate the powers of government among the three branches of the Federal Government and between the two Houses of Congress. The Constitution also prohibits the States from taking certain actions, and all powers that are not delegated to the Congress by the Constitution shall be reserved to the States or the people.”