Political Quotes

“In addition to the standing order, I will enforce existing rules to make the Senate operate more efficiently. After reasonable notice, I will insist that any Senator who objects to consent requests or threatens to filibuster come to the floor and exercises his or her rights himself or herself. This will apply to all objections to unanimous consent requests. Senators should be required to come to the floor and participate in the legislative process--to voice objections, engage in debate, or offer amendments. In addition, Rule XXII makes provision for 30 hours of debate after cloture is invoked. Within the 30 hours, Senators have strict limitations on the amount of time each Senator is allowed to speak. These limits should be enforced and Rule XXII further says, ``After no more than thirty hours of debate,'' so 30 hours will be considered the outside limit of post-cloture debate time. Finally, we will also announce that when the majority leader or bill manager has reasonably alerted the body of the intention to do so and the Senate is not in a quorum call and there is no order of the Senate to the contrary, the Presiding Officer may ask if there is further debate, and if no Senator seeks recognition, the Presiding Officer may put the question to a vote. This is consistent with precedent of the Senate and with Riddick's Senate Procedure, 1992. See page 716 in Riddick's and footnotes 385 and 386 on page 764.…”