Political Quotes

“I have said this a couple of times during the past few weeks, and I want to say this again. The leader could have come and filed cloture on this legislation very quickly, but he has obviously made a decision the Senate works best when people are allowed to offer amendments and speak their piece. There is no better example of that than this controversial legislation. All the amendments offered were on our side, and I think it speaks well of the direction that the Senate is going. We still have some obstacles we have to get over, but I again state that the pattern set by the majority leader in allowing debate to take place is good for this body, and I think the debate has been healthy. It has been very adversarial. That is what the Senate is supposed to be. There has been very heated debate on this issue. I think the Senate is better for this. This issue has been aired. There were procedural efforts made to take it back to committee, and there was a lot of good debate. Again, I direct this to the majority leader--and I speak on behalf of Senator Daschle and the rest of the minority--we appreciate allowing us to act as the Senate should act.”