Political Quotes

“I listened to this debate very carefully because I have great respect for both of the Senators--the Senator from Alaska and the Senator from South Dakota. I have seen both of them operate as effective legislators on the floor of the U.S. Senate. I have seen both of them entertain amendments, both friendly and not so friendly, on the floor of the Senate and deal with them in a fair fashion. I have seen both of them use the U.S. Senate to achieve legislative goals, some that I shared and some that I didn't share. But I have to ask them, in all candor, as I listened to the speech about preserving the Senate as we know it, if they are really taking a look around at the Senate as we know it. Do you know how many amendments were debated on the floor of the U.S. Senate in the year 2019--in the entire year? America's greatest deliberative body considered 22 amendments in that year. Six of them were offered by one Senator--Senator Rand Paul, the junior Senator from Kentucky. You remember them, as I do. He basically said: Here is a gun to your head. If you want to go home, I get a vote. He got his vote. And as he reminded me, he lost every one of those amendments. So 6 of the 22 amendments were, frankly, one Senator's effort to have a recorded vote, and that is all it was. Sixteen substantive amendments in a year, and you are arguing that we cannot change the Senate, we cannot transform the Senate, we cannot consider changes to the rules of the Senate. I know better.…”