Pete Domenici: “I personally will resist any efforts, now or in the future, to move this body away from its historic tradition of being…”

“I personally will resist any efforts, now or in the future, to move this body away from its historic tradition of being very free and open on debate and having one very big characteristic, and that is that most things can be filibustered--open debate. However, I submit that there is a Budget Act that was adopted almost unanimously by the Senate that for very special events changed both of those rules. The rule that an amendment, that a bill or measure can be freely amended was altered; for as long as we have that Budget Act in place, that will not be the rule on a reconciliation bill. Second, the very nature of the budget resolution denies filibuster. In the very statute that creates it, that other characteristic about the Senate--open debate for as long as you want--is negated.”