Tina Smith: “for those of you who may still be watching this debate, I know the suggestion has been made by our friends on the other…”

“for those of you who may still be watching this debate, I know the suggestion has been made by our friends on the other side that essential work is not being done. This time, I assure you, what is being done is a lot of work, and it is being done currently in conference committees. What we are doing here, I think, is also very important. In terms of dialog and debate in our democracy, we have an important issue before us. You have seen the sign. It says: 98 percent. All these judges have been confirmed. It is important not to get locked into that number because what is being missed is whether we are upholding our oath to the Constitution only 98 percent of the time or 100 percent of the time. In my view, my reading of the Constitution, it is that supermajorities are provided for in our Constitution in cases of Presidential vetoes, expelling a Member, and other areas. Mr. President, I listened to my friend from Connecticut last night. He made a very good speech. He talked about his boyhood and sitting here in the time of his father. I am sure he was listening to great civil rights debates, and the filibusters went on and on in terms of civil rights. But I will tell you, based on my reading of the recent book on Lyndon Johnson's life, by Robert Caro, ``Master of the Senate''--central in the fight among Democratic southerners and Democratic northerners, along with Republican northerners--there was the frustration over the issue of the filibuster.”