Political Quotes

“I thank Senator Udall for his work on TSCA. His description is pretty accurate. I am doing what the Senate historically has always done, allowing any Member of the Senate to exercise their authority as a Member of this austere body to amend any piece of legislation, and the Senate has functioned for a long time based upon that. It is just recently that we have not allowed that to be exercised. In other words, one Senator can't come to the floor and offer an amendment. He can't come to the floor and propound a unanimous consent request without objection. It has to change. I dare say that TSCA has overwhelming support and so does the Land and Water Conservation Fund. For us to get functional we have to return to where we expect Members to come. I have nongermane amendments on the cyber security bill, and they would all receive a vote if somebody hadn't objected, and we would actually see the Senate process exactly like it is supposed to, where if a nongermane amendment has 60 votes in favor of it, then it is added. I am not scared to have nongermane amendments on my bill. I have them, and because of somebody's fear, they will get knocked off and two Members of the Senate, a Republican and a Democrat, will not get their day to have a vote on their bill. I don't object to the Land and Water Conservation Fund being a part of it, as I just expressed.…”