Cord Byrd: “Not yet. I have not said much on this question, but I want to say a few things today. The Republican leader refers to it…”

“Not yet. I have not said much on this question, but I want to say a few things today. The Republican leader refers to it as the ``constitutional option.'' I refer to it as ``constitutional folly.'' We talk about freedom of speech in the Senate. Roots run deep with respect to freedom of speech. When the distinguished Republican leader first became leader, and even before he became leader, he visited my office and we had a good conversation. I believe he asked my thoughts on whether he might be a good leader of the Senate. I said give the Senate the opportunity to debate and to amend. That is what we are talking about here--the right to amend, the right to debate. Yet they are talking about the nuclear option. Don't kill freedom of speech in the Senate. That great compromise that was entered into on July 16, 1787, is why we are here today. If it hadn't been for that compromise, the Senator who sits in the chair would not be sitting there. The distinguished Democratic leader would not be the leader in this body. There would be no Senate, and there probably would not be a Republic. The great compromise said there shall be two Houses, and the membership number of one shall be determined on the basis of population; the other will be a forum of the States in which each State is equal to every other State and each Senator is equal to every other Senator. We talk a lot about tradition.…”