María Elvira Salazar: “I rise today to comment with respect to the Gang of 14. I join my good friend from Nebraska and my good friend from…”

“I rise today to comment with respect to the Gang of 14. I join my good friend from Nebraska and my good friend from Virginia and my good friend from Arkansas here today in again reminding ourselves as a Chamber that the 14 Members of the U.S. Senate who came together came here to do good. What they decided to do and we decided to do in the formation of that agreement was to transcend partisan politics to try to find a common purpose for the benefit of this great institution, the U.S. Senate, and for the benefit of our Nation. I commend the leadership, particularly of our senior members of that group of 14 Senators, including the great Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd, who worked closely with the Senator from Virginia, especially on the advice and consent portions. All of the members of the group were very instrumental in putting the compromise together. I would offer two observations with respect to that process and that agreement. The first is, it is my hope, as the newest Member of the U.S. Senate, the Senator who still ranks No. 100, that this is a kind of template that can be used as our Nation faces difficult issues in the future. We were able to put aside partisan politics to get beyond the gridlock that had existed in this body for some period of time.…”