Harry Reid: “I have said on previous occasions how much I care about this institution, but I have trouble expressing how disappointed…”

“I have said on previous occasions how much I care about this institution, but I have trouble expressing how disappointed I am as to what is going on. The arrogance of power of the Republicans in the House and the Senate is beyond my ability to comprehend. The Republican leadership now is attempting to impose the most cynical and I believe abusive practice in this pending conference report that, if successful, has the potential of changing the way this body operates forever. We will become another House of Representatives. Any conference report can set the tone of debate, the hours of debate, the parameters of debate. If the Senate does that, it will no longer be the Senate that was led by some of the greats such as Mansfield and Dirksen. I say this respectfully. I do not know how anyone would allow this to happen, those who have the ability to do it. There have been issues I felt strongly about, but I always played within the rules. That is not what is happening here. The game is being changed, the rules of the game are being changed in the middle of the game. In the Senate and the House, the rules are that the conferees are not allowed to include in the conference report any matter that was not submitted to the conference by either House. This avoids the possibility of conferees including legislation that would not pass either one House or the other on its own and forces the Congress to reach a consensus on controversial legislation.…”