Political Quotes

“Just last week the majority leader gave his view that tax extenders as an issue is dead in the Senate until the lameduck session. I presume that means we will have a lameduck session. The majority leader blames this on Republicans, the minority in the Senate, but as you all know, the majority leader is uniquely situated under our Senate rules to determine what legislation will be considered on the Senate floor. The majority leader's excuse that was given for not proceeding to extenders before a lameduck session is that we Republicans are seeking to offer amendments unrelated to tax extenders. Of course, this excuse simply does not fly. Even an introductory report on Senate procedure from the Congressional Research Service will tell all Senators that there is no ``standing rule or general requirement that the amendments offered by Senators on the floor must be germane or relevant to the bill being considered.'' The CRS report states: The right to offer non-germane amendments is extraordinarily important because it permits Senators to present issues to the Senate for debate and decision without regard to the judgments of the Senate's committees or the scheduling decisions and preferences of its majority leader. The majority leader has sought to circumvent the open amendment process by blocking amendments by filling the amendment tree. This allows the majority leader to effectively decide what, if any, amendments ought to receive consideration here on the Senate floor.…”