Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am also waiting. Senator Merkley is waiting to put in his unanimous consent request on the talking filibuster proposal which goes to the heart of the problem we have today. One of the things I have learned the last 2 years in the Senate is that when 41 Senators vote for more debate, that is basically what is happening. When Senators vote for more debate, 41 of them, then we don't get more debate. A lot of times we are in quorum calls. A lot of times if we have a live quorum, we pull 51 Senators over to the floor to try to get through that, there are a series of dilatory motions, and it is very difficult in the modern Senate to keep 51 Senators here surrounding the floor. In the old days, they used to pull out cots and stay through the night so that Senators would be able to sleep someplace to keep that live quorum going. But in the modern Senate, with everything going on, it is a tremendously unfair advantage for one side to have one Senator and the other side have to have 51 in order to try to conduct any business. That is the situation we are in today. That is what the talking filibuster goes to. It goes to dealing with that situation. How does it deal with it? If 41 Senators request more debate, if they say to the other 59 Senators they want more debate, we very simply say, just as Senator Alexander said, quoting Jimmy Stewart in ``The Right to Talk Your Head Off'' from ``Mr. Smith Goes To Washington,'' then come down and debate.…”