This hearing is about more than the filibuster. It seems to me it is about the institutional role of the Senate and its function in the legislative process.
The Constitution's framers never intended the Senate to function like the House of Representatives.
These numbers, Mr. Chairman, demonstrate the level of cooperation in the House has dropped precipitously, if not off the cliff.
filling the tree has become an unfortunate practice here.
the dynamics of the Senate obviously are different, so but let me ask a not entirely rhetorical question, and that is, why do Senators filib...
Is this different than the moments with Bill Frist and the nuclear option?
It certainly is time for us to listen to Senator Harkin's thoughts about how to make this institution better.
the filibuster become the norm, not the exception.
There is no former living Senator who can give us more insight into the evolution of the filibuster and the cloture rule than our first witn...
It is not unconstitutional to create a barrier that is very hard to overcome.
We will continue on the subject including getting to more specific proposals Senator Udall and others have those for future hearings.