On the recordJanuary 27, 2011
After I explain my position I will. That is a classic illustration of someone who initiates a filibuster and then takes a powder--goes out to dinner or goes home to attend an event and says: Just let the Senate burn up 30 hours. I will be back later. What we are hearing is that it is better to say to that Senator, if it means that much to stop the Senate it should mean enough for that Senator and that Senator's colleagues to stand up and fight for that right. Is it worth it? Will the Senator at least take the floor and speak to it? The Senator from Tennessee says there is a better way: to force the entire Senate, during a filibuster, to be here--all of us. So any one Senator can change and affect the lives of all Senators by saying we are going to stay all night. We will have live quorum calls and we will sleep on cots in the marble room, and that is the way to stop the filibuster. Think about that, I say to my friend from Tennessee. Is this a punishment to the person who initiates the filibuster? Does it even put responsibility on the person who initiates it? The answer is clearly no. The burden, under the defense of your position, falls on the entire Senate to sit here all night long because one Senator objects. I think this talking filibuster is much more reasonable.
