Political Quotes

“The Record speaks for itself. First, the Republicans insisted on the entire 30 hours, that the 30 hours be set aside for general debate on the bill before we could reach an amendment. We gave them their 30 hours for general debate and asked them during that period of time to produce the list of amendments that they wanted to consider on the bill. We gave them a list of amendments we would start with. The first was a bipartisan amendment, Senators Biden and Lugar. When we asked them for amendments to the bill, once again, they failed to produce the list. It was very clear what was going on. Then they proceeded, unfortunately, to tax the energy and stamina of the staff by having them read every word of the bill into the record, a complete waste of time. First, we burned off 30 hours in general debate with no amendments being produced by the Republican side. Then they came to the floor and took another 5 or 6 hours, maybe more, for the staff to read this into the record. This was not a good-faith effort in amending the bill or even debating the bill. That, unfortunately, is a reflection of what we have seen over and over and over, a record number of filibusters, a record number of Republican attempts to stop or slow down the debate on pending legislation. It is because, of course, they don't want us to see us enact legislation. They don't want to see us address the issues of the day. They are hoping this Congress will be as unproductive as the last Republican Congress.”