Political Quotes

“This was an historic day in the Senate. I was up after the vote on immigration with Senator Kennedy. We had a little press conference to talk about what happened. We needed 60 votes to move the immigration bill forward, for more amendments, to final passage. When the roll call was taken, there were 46 votes; it was far short of what was needed. The average person might ask: ``Why would it take 60 votes to pass something in the Senate? I thought it was by majority vote.'' Well, not in the Senate, it is not. If it is a complicated issue, and many are, it takes 60 votes. It is just the nature of this place, the reason why the Senate was created. It is the reason why a Senator from a State such as Rhode Island would represent his State, along with one other Senator, and a Senator from a State such as Illinois would have two Senators. It is the nature of the Senate. It is a guarantee that the minority always has protection and a voice in this political process. It leads to a lot of frustrations, as you can imagine, because bringing together 51 Senators ready to act and to solve a problem is not enough; around here, it never has been. And it leads to a lot of criticism from the outside about how we spend so much time talking and so little time doing. People look at us and say: ``You know, how many years have you all been giving speeches about health care in America? When are you going to do something about it?'' Well, the honest answer is, that is good criticism.…”