Political Quotes

“Senator Byrd served in the House of Representatives and the Senate for almost 60 years. He gave lots of speeches. I have quoted what he said. I will quote again part of what he said. The Constitution in Article I, Section 5 says that, Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings. Now we are at the beginning of the Congress. This Congress is not obliged to be bound by the dead hand of the past. So this debate is not going to be solved by the deceased. It is going to be solved by us. We are in the Senate today and the Senate has not been working. No matter how many times the Republican leader says he likes how things are today, it doesn't make it so that the majority of the Senate likes how it is today. The facts are the facts. We can't make them up. The Senate is not working, and we need to do something to fix it. I close, then, as I began. I would be happy to work with Leader McConnell about rules changes. I have made clear what we seek. I await his suggestions. As I repeat again what I said earlier, a man who has served with distinction in the Senate, Jeff Bingaman--quite a legal scholar, having been attorney general before he came here--asked: Why are we asking for such modest changes? So if the Republican leader has some ideas as to what he thinks should be done, I will come to his office. We can do it privately or publicly. I am happy to work with him. As I indicated, that is how I used to do things when I tried cases.…”