Political Quotes

“As we have discussed, in the interests of comity and more open process in the Senate, we have agreed that we should use these procedural options of filling the amendment tree and filibustering the motion to proceed infrequently. And we will do our best to ensure that other members of our caucuses respect this colloquy, as well. Mr. McCONNELL. I agree that both sides should do their best to reinstitute regular order, where bills come to the floor and Senators get amendments. Of course, there will be times when there is no consensus and when either side may want to use all its rights to defeat a bill. But we should endeavor to work together to follow the regular order where practicable and use our procedural options with discretion. And, I will do my best to ensure that other members of my caucus respect this. I want to close by clearly reaffirming my view that if we are going to change Senate rules, we must do so within those rules. As rule 5 states, the Senate is a continuing body, and the rules continue unless changed within the parameters of the rules. I strongly reject this notion that a simple majority can muscle their way to new rules at the beginning of a new Congress. I believe this is a flawed approach. Majorities come and go. My Democratic colleagues should be wary of attempting this maneuver because they will not always be in the majority. The Senate is not the House of Representatives, and our Founding Fathers never intended it to be.…”