Political Quotes

“Madam President, I thank Senator Wyden for his leadership and for working together with me and other Senators over a long period of time. I think he referred to maybe 10 years that we have been struggling to get to what we are finally getting to today. In the past, we thought we had victories and they turned out to be hollow victories--maybe a little more openness but largely ineffective. So maybe now we will finally be able to accomplish an effective openness in the Senate on one of the most powerful tools a Senator has. I think it gives hope to the fact that if you are right, eventually right wins out, even in the Senate. Long struggle does pay. I think we are bringing simply common sense to a process in the Senate. It is, as my friend from Oregon said, transparency, and with transparency we have accountability. The amendment Senator Wyden and I have offered would restore the prohibition on secret holds the Senate voted for overwhelmingly in a previous Congress--the 109th Congress--and make it even more robust. As I said, those turned out to be largely not very effective. At that time, in the 109th Congress, our measure passed as an amendment to the ethics reform bill by a vote of 84 to 13. That bill never became law, but the next Congress passed then what is referred in the title of the legislation as the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. Our provision was also originally included in that bill.…”