On the recordFebruary 25, 2015
I thank the Senator from Tennessee and look forward to working with him. Mr. President, this is the way it ought to be, where Senators come together and bring our best ideas. We also bring our concerns and we put them all on the table. But we began with civility, we began with respect, and we established what were agreed-upon goals and how each one of us thought we could get to the roadmap to do that. This is the way I would hope we would work. Now, as we come to almost a crisis with the funding for Homeland Security running out on Friday, this is the time for us to put our party differences aside, put our pet projects aside, and focus not on what is good for our politics but what is good for America. I understand that our leadership on both sides of the aisle--Senator McConnell and Senator Reid--have arrived now at a framework where we will go through a set of parliamentary procedures, which is our way, to then arrive at a point where we could be voting on a full year's funding for Homeland Security without any additional riders that could derail the bill placed on it. I wish to compliment the leadership for beginning a communication and establishing a parliamentary choreography where we could actually get the job done. The leaders have been working on this. We know they will be coming here on the floor in a few minutes to share with us that idea and begin the procedures where every Senator can exercise their will and their judgment.…
