Harry Reid: “we have been able to consider every piece of legislation so far this year in this session of Congress under unanimous…”

“we have been able to consider every piece of legislation so far this year in this session of Congress under unanimous consent agreements. This is the first amendable vehicle that Members have had to try to amend this year. There is no attempt by the minority to filibuster, to delay this bill in any manner. Members on our side simply want the bill considered in the regular order, open to amendment. Like the majority leader, I had the good fortune of serving in the House of Representatives. I loved my job in the House of Representatives, but there we worked under different rules. We had a Rules Committee. Before any bill came to the House floor--in fact, the majority leader served on the Rules Committee--there had to be a rule on that bill as to how long the debate would take, how many amendments would be offered, and how long for each amendment. Those are not the rules that have governed the Senate for 200-plus years, and they should not be the rules that govern the Senate today. We have clearly heard what the majority leader said today, that other things we may want to bring up will be scheduled at a later time. But we are not part of that scheduling process. There are issues we believe are necessary now in this country to be the subject of legislation. The only way we can do that is through the amendment process. We believe the minority should be entitled to offer amendments of their choosing.”