Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I hope the Senator from New Mexico will stay on the floor. I wish to engage in a colloquy with the Senator from New Mexico on the topic on which he just spoke. I say to my friend from New Mexico, the Senator from Tennessee, as I understand, had propounded the question, what is a filibuster? The Senator from New Mexico has been very eloquent in responding to that, talking about the filibuster. But I think the better question is, what has a filibuster become, because as the Senator pointed out and as Senator Merkley pointed out, this whole image of someone standing on the floor and speaking until they drop such as Senator D'Amato or Senator Thurman back in the old days on the civil rights bills or even Senator Sanders a few weeks ago, that is not really a filibuster any longer. So what has a filibuster become? Let me go back again a little bit in history. In the 19th century, in the 1800s, the filibuster was used, if I am not mistaken, about 20 times during that whole 100 years. But it was used under a different set of circumstances. In the 1800s, a Senator or a Congressman was elected in November, but the session of Congress lasted until March. The Senators or Congressmen elected in November actually did not take their seats here until a year and a month later, in December of the following year.…”