On the recordJanuary 27, 2011
I think every one of us agrees that the Senate needed to be fixed, and we also agree that we did a lot last year, despite the fact that it was broken. We had different paths to fix it, but fix it we must and fix it we will. I will say this: Obviously, there are going to be some rules changes and some statutory changes. But a lot of what will make this work is the agreement--informal but serious--between Senators Reid and McConnell, which Senator Alexander and I were part of. I say to my colleagues, hopefully, we are opening up a bit of a new era, where bills are allowed to come to the floor, except under extraordinary circumstances, where amendments are allowed to be added to those bills, except under extraordinary circumstances, and there is vigorous debate. I ask my colleagues to forbear--it is easy for any Senator to stand up and bollix up the whole works. The spirit of the new agreement says think twice, or maybe three times, before you do, because that was the path that led us to the dysfunction.
