Political Quotes

“I listened carefully to my friend John Thune, the Republican leader. We have known one another and served together for many years. We have worked on issues together, and I think we will continue to, but we disagree on many political things. I respect him, and I hope he respects me. He made a plea to the Senate that we have more voice votes, more unanimous consent requests for nominations. He went through the history of this Chamber. And, certainly, it bears repeating, and it is certainly true, that in the past there were many more voice votes than there are today. What is the difference between a record vote and a voice vote? Time. Time is so precious here. We only meet for a few days each week and a few hours each day. We need more time if there are more rollcall votes. It takes up anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours to complete a vote. A voice vote, of course, is instantaneous. So the Republican leader, Mr. Thune, is asking for more and more voice votes. And he recounts the history in this Chamber to make his case. There is one chapter that he failed to admit and failed to concede; that is, what happened in the last year of the Biden administration.”