Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. President. Senator Merkley, I have listened very carefully, and I think you and I have worked diligently since we got into the Senate to try to make sure the Senate functions properly. What we want to see more than anything is bipartisanship, working together. Whenever we have worked on the rules, I know one of our principles-- which was a good one--was to draft rules so that they apply to either the majority or minority. That is something I think we have done on a regular basis, is to look at the rules and say: If we do the right set of rules, then if we are in the minority, we will feel good about it, and if we are in the majority, they will work for us that way also. I am wondering. I see calls of reform all around the Senate right now. You see the Presidential candidates who look at our Senate rules and say there ought to be reforms. There ought to be filibuster reform. You see Republicans over in the House almost every week raising the issue that there should be filibuster reform. We need democracy to work. Many of the outside scholars--people such as Thomas Mann, Norm Ornstein, and scholars like them--write books over and over again, and always a big part of the reform package goes to the Senate rules. So I would ask the Senator, do you think that we are really talking about there being fertile ground right now for us to come together; that this is a time, when enough people are speaking about this, that we should be able to come together?…”