On the recordJanuary 25, 2010
it is with great humility and respect for the institution of the Senate, reverence for the many great men and women who have served here, and affection for my colleagues that I rise today to discuss what I believe is an issue of great importance. Reflecting on my first year as a Member of this body, I have come to believe that we are failing to represent the best interests of the American people. We as elected representatives have a duty to our constituents. But partisan rancor and the Senate's own incapacitating rules often prevent us from fulfilling that duty. While I am convinced that our inability to function is our own fault, we have the authority within the Constitution to act. Article I, section 5, of our Constitution states in clear language that ``Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings. . . .'' Yet at the beginning of the 111th Congress, we implicitly acquiesced to the rules adopted decades and sometimes more than a century ago, rules that most Members of this Senate have never voted to adopt. Today these rules put in place generations ago make effective legislating nearly impossible.
