Political Quotes

“Madam President, first, I thank Senator Cornyn for his remarks, particularly the points he made about the ruling of the Parliamentarian. I come to the floor to address the same issue. We received last night guidance from the Senate Parliamentarians regarding the unprecedented attempt to include wide-ranging immigration provisions in the upcoming reconciliation bill. Now, for the public at large, when they hear the word ``reconciliation,'' it is a process by which you don't have to have 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to get to finality on a bill. But reconciliation is something that has been used only twice, I believe, in the last 5 years. So it is not something that you just willy-nilly go to to get a lot of things done that you couldn't otherwise get done. But this looks like what the Democrat majority is trying to do in the reconciliation bill with the issue of immigration, and so I am thankful for the decision made by the Parliamentarian. That guidance by the Parliamentarian indicated that a proposal to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants is not appropriate for inclusion in a budget reconciliation bill. As ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, my office was deeply involved in the bipartisan discussions that took place with the Parliamentarian on this issue. I will say that I agree with the Parliamentarian's guidance.…”