Tom Udall: “The Senator from Alabama--I think we overlapped as attorneys general, and we are good friends--raised this whole issue…”

“The Senator from Alabama--I think we overlapped as attorneys general, and we are good friends--raised this whole issue, and he used the phrase, which has been frequently used on the Republican side, that--and we are getting to this place where we have the opportunity to change the rules. The phrase he keeps using is ``break the rules to change the rules.'' This goes to my question: Is the Senator aware that under the Constitution, and specifically article I, section 5, it says that the Senate may determine the rules of its proceedings? As far as I know--and we have a letter we are going to have printed in the Record later--almost all constitutional scholars in this country as well as three Vice Presidents sitting up there where Senator Cardin is sitting, presiding, have ruled that at the beginning of a Congress, on the first legislative day, the Senate is allowed to change the rules. And the Constitution trumps the Senate rules in that respect in that very early period. So my question to the Senator from Alabama: Does not the Constitution trump the Senate rules? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.”