Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am sorry my good friend from Tennessee had to object, but I understand. We are going to engage for some time now on the Senate floor in a discussion on the filibuster, something that has been around a long time but which, in the last several years, few years--I would not say ``several''--in the last 20, 30 years, has gotten to the point where it has paralyzed the Senate and has paralyzed the country. I intend to make some remarks for a while. I appreciate my friend from Tennessee and also my friend from Kansas who is here. I hope we can engage in a nice colloquy and a discussion about this in a back- and-forth way. I look forward to doing that. I do wish to take some time to at least lay out my case, as I did 15 years ago--I am sorry, 16 years ago. On January 4, 1995, I submitted this same resolution. I was a member of the minority party in the Senate for the first time in 8 years. When I first came to the Senate, the Republicans were in charge and then the Democrats got in charge and then the Republicans got in charge and then the Democrats got in charge and then the Republicans got in charge and then the Democrats got in charge. Since I have been here, since 1985, five times the Senate has changed hands. I note that at the beginning of that Congress in 1995, the Republicans outnumbered Democrats 53 to 47, the same majority-minority ratio that exists today, just on the other side.…”