Political Quotes

“we are only a few weeks away now from the November elections. Therefore, this is a time for reflection. For me, it is a time to recognize I am nearly through my first 2 years as a Senator. I must say it is an incredible privilege to come and be part of this debate among these 100 colleagues, representing our 50 States. It is also time to ponder whether that debate works as well as it might. The Senate is famed as the greatest deliberative body in the world, but I have seen too little deliberation and too much dysfunction. At this time, as we prepare to return back home to our citizens, to talk to our folks back home about the upcoming elections and the ideas they have, it is also time to think about when we come back, after these elections, after a new Congress comes in next January, how can we make this Senate work better as a deliberative body. My perspective is affected not just by the time I spent here since January 2009 but by the perspective of first coming here in 1976 as an intern for Senator Hatfield. So I thought I would compare the use of what is commonly termed the ``filibuster'' between the 1975-76 session and our last complete session, the 2007-2008 session. We had in that 2007-2008 session the use of the filibuster on amendments 30 times. But if I turn the clock back to 1975-1976, 35 years ago, the number was zero. There were zero filibusters. Then, on motions to proceed, there were 3 in 1975-1976; there were 49 in 2007-2008.”