Political Quotes

“Madam President, the majority leader, the Senator from Nevada, came to the floor last night to take exception to my criticisms of how the Senate operates these days. I have criticized the actions of the current majority leadership, of which he is the head. However, I would like to point out that I have tried to avoid singling him out personally because it is not my intention to engage in personal attacks or name calling. Still, the fact that he takes my criticisms of the Senate's dysfunction so personally should tell us something. Yesterday, I criticized the abuse of same-day cloture motions. In response, Senator Reid said, ``He claims that I file too many cloture motions.'' Well, it often is the majority leader who files the cloture motions, but sometimes it is other members of the majority leadership, and on rare occasions, other Senators. The fact is, this majority leader has instigated more of the cloture motions than any leader in recent times. Senator Frist filed about 72 percent of all cloture motions when he was Majority Leader, Senator Daschle filed about 32 percent during his leadership, Senator Lott about 69 percent, and Senator Dole about 50 percent. Senator Reid has personally filed 94 percent of all the cloture motions since he became majority leader. And, that is 94 percent of a much bigger number since cloture filings have more than doubled under this majority leadership.…”