Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this past week, New York Times columnist Gail Collins noted that ``Washington was immobilized by snow on Friday. This is highly unusual. Normally, Washington is immobilized by senators.'' Sadly, Gail Collins is right. The unprecedented abuse of Senate rules by Republicans has overwhelmed the legislative process. The same week that Washington saw a large snow storm shut down the city and close the Federal Government, we saw the unprecedented action of a minority blocking Senate confirmation of every single executive branch nominee. Last week, we saw Republicans require the Senate to debate for 30 hours one Department of Labor nominee in lieu of conducting other business and I use the term ``debate'' generously since during that time one Member spoke in opposition to her confirmation. This Congress, we have seen the minority require the Senate clerk to read lengthy bills out loud. And, most significantly, the minority has used the filibuster at an unheard of level in the history of this body. The U.S. Senate cannot continue to function this way. That is why today I am introducing a bill to change the Standing Rules of the Senate to reform the cloture procedure in the U.S. Senate. I am introducing this bill as a member of the majority party in the Senate. I note, however, that this bill is identical to the one I first introduced in 1995, when I was a member of the minority party in the Senate.…”