Judd Gregg: “I wanted to speak a little bit to the situation we find ourselves in. We have been here before. This is "deja vu all…”

“I wanted to speak a little bit to the situation we find ourselves in. We have been here before. This is "deja vu all over again," to quote Yogi Berra. We were under the same stricture when we were debating the agriculture bill a couple months ago. The Senate, by definition, is an institution that is supposed to work its will on legislation. The legislation doesn't come to the Senate under a closed rule as they have in the House, where the House leadership says this amendment will be offered, and that amendment will be offered, and time will expire and we have to vote. The whole concept of the Senate is that you have an open and free-flowing debate, where people can bring their thoughts to the floor. You don't limit amendments and they can be on about anything. As a practical matter, the Senate then votes after it has fully digested the various ideas that have been put forward. This approach the Senate has always taken was first defined and most effectively defined, ironically, by George Washington, when he said that the Senate is the saucer into which the hot coffee is poured--the coffee being the House ideas.”