Political Quotes

“I was going to ask the Republican leader, in the two previous Defense authorization bills brought to the floor of the Senate, how many times did we impose a 60-vote requirement on amendments to that bill? The answer is none, never. It was always a majority vote. Now the Republican side has said: We insist on 60 votes for every amendment to the Defense authorization bill. Those following this debate, watching it either in the galleries or on C-SPAN, may wonder what is the big deal. Why? What is the difference? The difference is obvious. We are about to consider a debate on the war in Iraq. This Senate is evenly divided. With Senator Johnson recuperating, it is a 50/49 Senate with 50 Democrats and 49 Republicans on the issue of Iraq. One of the Democratic Senators votes on the other side. So on any given issue, it is 49 to 50, closely divided. Now the ranks on the Republican side are breaking and changing. We now have Republican Senators who are stepping out and publicly saying they disagree with the President.”