Political Quotes

“Madam President, we have been hearing from the other body a lot about how the Senate isn't taking up House bills. Now, that seems to be as though the Senate is supposed to somehow be a rubberstamp for the other body. Well, we just celebrated Constitution Day last week, and the Constitution doesn't provide for the Senate to automatically take up bills from the other body. Maybe it is time for a reminder about how the Founding Fathers intended the Senate to work, so I am going to give a short quote by James Madison in the Federalist Papers, No. 62, entitled ``The Senate'': The necessity of a senate is not less indicated by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies, to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions. I am not saying that the House of Representatives passes intemperate and pernicious resolutions, but at least the Founding Fathers thought that could happen, and they had the Senate to be a check on the House of Representatives, just as the House of Representatives can be a check on anything that we do. There are now over 80 bills that have passed both Houses, but there are some that can't pass the Senate, and there are probably some the Senate feels shouldn't even be brought up. The difference between the House and Senate--and some contemplation by the Senate to be very cautious--is how the Constitution meant the Senate was supposed to work.…”