Tom Udall: “Finally, once again, I wish to thank our leaders. Lamar Alexander and Chuck Schumer, both working on the Rules…”

“Finally, once again, I wish to thank our leaders. Lamar Alexander and Chuck Schumer, both working on the Rules Committee, have done a remarkable job in terms of negotiating. Leader Reid and Leader McConnell have made a decision which was announced earlier today, and that decision was to change some of the rules, to let us vote on some changes to the rules. And also, I think one of the most significant things--and I know Senator Alexander has mentioned this--is to try to change behavior. More than anything, I think that could be very significant. They talked and decided they would like to do this differently. We would like to get back to the Senate functioning where we bring things up, we debate them, we allow robust debate, we allow the amendment process to work forward. I know Senator Alexander addressed this at one point in his Heritage speech, saying the Senate is a shadow of itself. We want to get back to that Senate with the robust debate and amendment process, and I think both sides have tried to pull that together. So I very much hope this is a new day in the Senate.”