Cord Byrd: “There you are. Why do we not use the rules we now have? No, we do not do that. We ask unanimous consent to take up a…”

“There you are. Why do we not use the rules we now have? No, we do not do that. We ask unanimous consent to take up a matter and somebody objects over here. That is called a filibuster, and immediately a cloture motion is put in. Well, some would say that is a waste of time. You have to wait 2 days. The majority leader does not have to wait 2 days. He can go on to something else once the Chair reads the 16 names who are signatories of the cloture motion. He can go to something else. And 2 days later, the following day plus one, the cloture motion will ripen, and there will be a vote. So that is called a filibuster. I daresay if you count those so-called filibusters in that red bar on the chart there, you will find most of them are cloture motions that were entered on requests to proceed that were objected to and immediately a cloture motion was filed. That is no filibuster. We go on to something else. We do not spend 2 days debating that matter. We go on to something else. That is no filibuster. But in order to enhance their arguments that we need to do away with the so-called filibuster rule, they spread it all over the country that the Senate is plagued with filibuster after filibuster after filibuster. There is no question but that our friends on the other side of the aisle, in my opinion, have recently abused the rule. But as I say, the rule is there. The majority leader has the power and he can move to proceed, and that is nondebatable under rule VIII.”