Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator. Madam President, I will take this in two parts. I think it is important for us to actually digest--for the folks here watching in the Gallery or the press folks who are here or who have left--to really understand what happened today, because what happened today wasn't some disagreement about the number of amendments people might have on an appropriations bill or whether or not some vehicle is going to be a priority or not. What was established today was a new precedent--something that had never taken place in this Chamber in the history of our Republic. What the Senate Democrats decided to do with a simple majority was to bulldoze 200 years of precedent that said something very simple: that this Chamber would honor our constitutional obligation and conduct a trial to hear the evidence. There is no real debate. We were to hear the evidence from witnesses, with counsel present. There is a whole process--there is a whole procedure--that has been established, finely wrought throughout the ages, that we were to honor--when we raised our right hand when we get sworn in to honor--when we got sworn in today to honor--as U.S. Senators. That is all gone now--maybe forever. I don't see a circumstance now--you heard the parliamentary inquiries asking if a precedent had ever been established for this or that. A hundred years from now, when somebody else has Harry Truman's desk--if I remember to carve my name in it before I die--somebody will have this desk.…”