Harry Reid: “We are witnessing here a new procedure in the Senate that I am not familiar with, and that is legislating by press…”

“We are witnessing here a new procedure in the Senate that I am not familiar with, and that is legislating by press conference. What we have before the Senate now is a rare moment of bipartisanship. We have a bill that came from the Judiciary Committee in a bipartisan fashion. It is strong bipartisan legislation that strengthens our national security. We need to move forward. We have reviewed the list of amendments filed by both sides. There are several good-faith amendments that are intended to improve the bill without damaging the integrity of the committee product or which are not designed to score political points. We are ready to schedule votes on these amendments at the right time. However, it is important that we take advantage of the bipartisan momentum behind this bill and keep moving forward. We must not allow this strong bipartisan legislation to be torpedoed for reasons that probably are very partisan. We on this side are united behind a comprehensive immigration reform bill, a bill that is bipartisan, and we are ready for prompt action on this bill. So I object to voting at midnight. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.”