On the recordApril 24, 2018
earlier today, the minority leader came to the floor to talk about multiple issues. During that conversation, he called me out by name regarding a rules proposal that I have in front of the Rules Committee this week. He said that he vehemently disagrees with that rules proposal. He even mentioned that he knows that I came here in 2014 and that I should study the history of the Senate a little bit more before I bring up a rules proposal. Well, I would only tell my colleague that I have studied the history, and I would like to get a little bit of context around those comments. The rules proposal that the minority leader is opposing is the exact same rules proposal that he actually voted for in 2013 when he was on the Rules Committee and then voted for again when it came to the floor of the Senate. This is not some radical proposal. In 2013, Democrats found intolerable what was happening with the nomination process, so at the beginning of 2013, they worked with Republicans and said: We need to be able to put a structure in place to get nominations through because a President should be able to have his staff put in place, and there shouldn't be an arbitrary slowdown of that process. Republicans came on board, even during a very contentious time, because Republicans did not agree with the policies of President Obama. Yet they agreed.…





