Political Quotes

“I would state for the record that last year before cloture was successfully invoked on immigration, the Senate disposed of 30 amendments with 23 rollcall votes. This year, after votes just completed, the Senate has disposed of 41 amendments, with 27 rollcall votes, 11 amendments more than when we last considered this bill under the other party's control. Not counting side-by-side alternative amendments, there have been 18 Democratic amendments offered, compared to 21 Republican amendments. Counting side by sides, it is 21 Democrats, 22 Republicans. So I would say to my friend from Texas, by standards of the last debate on the immigration bill, we have considered 11 more amendments, we have had more rollcall votes, there have been more side by sides and other votes offered from the Republican side than the Democratic side. So I say at this point this has been a fair and complete process. It is now 12:20 in the morning. We have worked a long day; probably have 2 long days ahead of us. But to argue that Members have not had their chance to express themselves through the amendment process is not reflected in the actual vote.”