David Thomas: “reclaiming my time, I do not know that I have the power. It is a cooperative effort. But after this exercise and the…”

“reclaiming my time, I do not know that I have the power. It is a cooperative effort. But after this exercise and the clear feeling on the part of the gentleman that it is now outrageous and painful, that I found a new ally in trying to make it work. I did not realize the gentleman was so outraged and that there was so much pain laboring under the Byrd Rule. For fear of putting everyone to sleep, I will spend just a minute talking about why we are in the situation that we are in. Under reconciliation with the Senate, given their rules, there are two key points that need to be remembered when the House and the Senate try to resolve issues surrounding the budget and taxes. There is only one opportunity in any given session of Congress to have a decision made on the budget and taxes associated under that budget with just 51 votes, because the Senate's fundamental rules do not limit debate. Therefore, anyone can filibuster at any time they want, which requires 60 votes from the Senate to stop that filibuster. This is an opportunity to do the people's work under a simple majority. That is one of the reasons we have labored under the Byrd Rule. The 51 vote means we can do meaningful and useful change instead of some of the outrageous change dictated by a minority, whether it is Democrats or Republicans at the time, or a coalition that can control the floor of the Senate.”