Political Quotes

“Madam President, first I thank both our leader, Harry Reid, and our minority leader, Mitch McConnell, for their leadership and guidance. They are walking out together, and that is a good metaphor for what has happened today. I thank my colleague, Lamar Alexander, as well. Under the two leaders' authorization, we talked and, of course, in constant touch with them, worked out this agreement. I rise to speak in support of the bipartisan agreement on Senate rules reform. It is an important step forward in changing the way we do business in the Senate. Last year, the Rules Committee held six hearings on the filibuster. We heard about the history of the filibuster and what happened and how it had gone out of control. Those hearings were requested, actually, by a member of the Rules Committee, Tom Udall, the Senator from New Mexico, and it is why we embarked on the hearings. And I very much appreciate his suggestion that we do that. At the hearings, Democrats brought up that the majority was no longer able to move forward to consider bills by filibusters on motions to proceed, and Republicans argued that they were too often blocked from offering amendments by the majority filling the tree. Both sides had legitimate complaints. What couldn't be disputed was that, in many ways, the Senate was broken. It had become harder and harder for the body to consider, debate, and decide on legislation and nominations that it is supposed to take care of.…”