On the recordJanuary 27, 2011
The obvious question is, what do we accomplish by staying here all night? Every 15 minutes or every hour the majority leader could ask for a live quorum and Members could be asked to come vote. If they don't, their voting record would reflect that. So the body would pay the price of applying pressure--the confrontation that Senator Byrd speaks of. What the Senators proposing this suggest is that the person who wants to stop the Senate should have the burden of explaining why or standing and defending his or her position. I don't think that is unreasonable.
