Political Quotes

“Madam President, what just transpired deserves a word. Senator McConnell came to the floor this morning and offered a change in law that would help us avoid the kind of obstruction and the kind of showdowns that we have had in the past over the debt ceiling. In fact, the idea was not new. It was his original idea that has been the law of the land and followed. He offered and challenged Senator Reid to bring this matter for consideration in the Senate. Senator Reid just agreed to it. He said he would bring this to a vote in 20 minutes, and we would decide, up or down, whether the debt ceiling problem would be resolved once and for all under Senator McConnell's proposal. Then Senator McConnell objected--objected-- saying: No, no, we need 60 votes. For those who do not follow the Senate, 60 votes is the equivalent of a filibuster vote--breaking a filibuster vote. So this may be a moment in Senate history when a Senator made a proposal and, when given an opportunity for a vote on that proposal, filibustered his own proposal. I think we have now reached a new spot in the history of the Senate we have never seen before. I am going to ask the Parliamentarian to look into this. I do not think this has ever happened before. But it calls into question whether this was the kind of offer that one would consider to be good faith--if Senator Reid offered a vote on it, and Senator McConnell said, no, it has to be 60, it has to be a filibuster-proof vote.”