Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I have a little advice, really, of a parliamentary nature for the U.S. Senate. I hope it will be taken in the constructive spirit that it is intended. This week, the Senate is expected, once again, to vote on a budget resolution. It is among the most important actions we will take all year. Unfortunately, one unpleasant aspect of this process will be the so- called vote-arama. We just had one a few weeks ago. There is no specific mention of the vote-arama in the 1974 Congressional Budget Act. This process was never envisioned by the drafters of the budget law. But it evolved to its current form because the Congressional Budget Act allows debate up to 20 hours and does not restrict the number of amendments Senators can offer. Here is how it actually works. And you know this quite well, Mr. President, as a new Member of the Senate. On the day of the amendment votes, Senators will sit around on the floor and in the Cloakrooms and in the anterooms of the Chamber and stare at each other all day, make offers and counteroffers. Then late in the day, usually in the early evening, we begin debate. We make brief 1-minute speeches, and we vote over and over and over into the wee hours of the morning. One result is that the process is, by then, hidden, relegated to the darkness of nighttime. Most Americans are already asleep when we get down to business in the vote-arama. What they miss, though, is mostly political theater. In this production, the roles never change.…”