Bill Bennett: “the Senator from Colorado talked about the ongoing conversation with respect to the filibuster in the Senate. If I may…”

“the Senator from Colorado talked about the ongoing conversation with respect to the filibuster in the Senate. If I may, I would like to reminisce for a little while because I have something of a history in the Senate. I have clearly not been here nearly as long as many of my colleagues, but I first came into this Chamber when I was a teenager. My father was a Senator. I was a summer intern in his office. I suppose there was something strange about me as a teenager because I was more interested in the Senate than I was in sports or cars, the two subjects that young boys are supposed to be paying attention to. I remember sitting in the family gallery one evening listening to the debates. In those days, there were debates. There was not the situation we find now where Senators come to the floor to posture for the television cameras. They came to the floor to have a clash of ideas. I remember a particular debate where a Senator on the Democratic side of the aisle was holding forth. He seemed to be winning the argument and the Senators on the Republican side of the aisle sent up the call for the chairman of the Finance Committee, who entered the back of the Chamber. I remember the Democratic Senator saying, I see the Republicans have brought up their heavy artillery. Then there was an exchange between these two Senators which the chairman of the Finance Committee clearly won.…”