Amy Klobuchar: “I am here on this momentous day for our country, and I would like to address some of the remarks from my friend and…”

“I am here on this momentous day for our country, and I would like to address some of the remarks from my friend and neighbor from the State of South Dakota. I hope he will stay for my remarks. What is the Senate about? That is what Senator Thune was just addressing. What is the Senate about? We come here to represent the people of our States, and we come here to make decisions and to vote. I don't think anyone in our States wants us to come here and hug an archaic tradition and then simply stop votes, stop debates; hug that tradition tight and then throw the voters under the desk and go home and raise money; because, basically, that is what this tradition has turned into. I believe what our Founding Fathers wanted when it became clear that this country was forming, they wanted to have a Senate that worked. And when you go back and look, there is no mention about filibuster in the Constitution. There is no mention of 60 votes. There is no mention of cloture. Rules developed over time. And believe it or not, to my friend from South Dakota, those rules changed with the times. In the words of Senator Byrd, someone who believed in the traditions of this place, the rules change with the circumstances. And in the words of our Constitution, which the Senator from South Dakota failed to mention, ``The Times, Places and Manner of . . . Elections''--well, this is what it says: ``Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.'' That is what it says.…”