Tom Harkin: “I know Senator Stabenow has an important meeting to get to, and I will yield to her in just second. I just want to…”

“I know Senator Stabenow has an important meeting to get to, and I will yield to her in just second. I just want to respond to my friend from North Carolina as to why I objected since I don't believe in all of these reservations for objections. Either you object or you don't, and there is a time to explain that later on. I wanted to explain why I objected. If we vote for cloture at noon on this underlying bill, then what the Senator from North Carolina wants, they can add as an amendment. They can offer that as an amendment to the bill. The bill will be open to any amendments anybody has. So the reason I object is because we have a bill, and it is under regular order. We have cloture and the bill is open for amendments. So the Senator from North Carolina or Tennessee or West Virginia or anybody else can offer any amendments they want, and that is the way the regular order ought to proceed. With that, I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.”