On the recordOctober 19, 2011
I say to my friend from Minnesota, I think that is right. If the Senator wants to be engaged in the process of legislation, then, as I say, the Senator from Minnesota has talked to me many times about what he wants in the bill. The Senator from Colorado and even Members on the Republican side have talked to me about what should be in the bill, what should not be in the bill. That is the process. I would say to my friend from Minnesota, I have been chairman twice before, not of this committee but of the Agriculture Committee when we did major agricultural bills. One was in 2001 and the other one was in 2007, and both times I worked with the ranking members, basically, the same kind of process. We got bipartisan bills through that were signed by President Bush both times, 2001 and in 2007. This was the process we used. We let amendments be offered. We opened it up. No one on the committee ever raised an objection to our meeting during the Senate session. We got our jobs done. That is the way we have always done it. That is just the legislative--as I said, considerate, logical legislative process. That is the way we have always conducted it. What it does is it allows Members--Senators who are interested, as the Senator from Minnesota has been so keenly interested in this Education bill, to give them time to go to the ranking member, to go to me, to go to other Members, to see what they can get in the bill.…
