Political Quotes

“it should be noticed by those who are interested in the subject of missile defense that what we are actually debating and deciding this morning is whether or not the Senate should proceed to consider the bill that has been introduced by me and the distinguished Senator from Hawaii, Mr. Inouye. This bill is not going to be voted on up or down today; what we will have a vote on at 11:30 is whether or not to proceed to consider the bill. When the majority leader decided to call up this legislation, there was an objection made to proceeding to consider the bill. So under the procedures of the Senate, the majority leader, who is in charge of making decisions about the schedule of the Senate and how we take up legislation in the Senate, was obligated to file a motion to proceed to consider the bill. That motion is debatable. Under notice from the opponents of the bill, it was clear that motion would be debated at length. So to get to the bill, it was decided by the majority leader that a cloture motion should be filed on the motion to proceed, bringing debate on the motion to a close. If we get 60 votes on that cloture motion, then we can proceed to consider the bill and it can be open for amendment, and Senators who have alternative ideas, or think that the current policy is the policy we should have for missile defense, can make those points and the Senate can consider those views. But until this cloture motion is approved, we can't get to that point.”