Cord Byrd: “for many years, I have been growing increasingly concerned about the Senate as a forum for debate. Senators at every…”

“for many years, I have been growing increasingly concerned about the Senate as a forum for debate. Senators at every turn seem bent upon undermining this institution and the vision of our constitutional framers embodied in this upper body of the Congress. The Senate is the only forum in our Government where the perfection of laws may be unhurried and where controversial decisions may be hammered out on the anvil of lengthy debate. It may be slow; it may be unwieldy; it may be frustrating to some; but it is the best means to achieving compromise, to ensuring an informed citizenry, to protecting the rights of the minority. To shut out the minority by limiting the right to debate is to needlessly and detrimentally infuse partisanship into the legislative process. That is exactly what we are seeing in this budget resolution. Included in the Budget chairman's resolution are reconciliation instructions to the Finance Committee to report $81 billion in tax cuts to extend the child credit, marriage penalty, and 10-percent bracket expansion that are scheduled to expire this year. If misused, there is no procedural mechanism in the Senate more contemptuous of debate than the budget reconciliation process, and it is being misused. It is a process that has morphed into an annual exercise where the majority party takes advantage of the limitations on amendment and debate allowed by the Budget Act to shield controversial legislation from public discussion.”