On the recordJanuary 25, 2011
I would certainly like to thank Senator Harkin for the many years he has pursued reforming the rules of the Senate, especially from the perspective of being in the minority and then maintaining that same effort in the majority. I believe it is important to recognize that the issues we are presenting and bringing to the floor are to make the Senate work better as a deliberative body for both the minority and majority. If we were to turn the clock back several decades, we would not be here right now carrying on this colloquy. Instead, there would have been a unanimous consent to put a rule proposal on the floor of the Senate, and we would be debating that proposal. That is the way the Senate worked for most of its first two centuries. In 1953, Senator Anderson put forward a resolution to adopt new rules at the start of Congress. There was a debate on it. Then, eventually, it was tabled. It was tabled by 51. That is what the rule said--51 could table, they could set it aside. He did not win his debate, but he got it on the floor of the Senate, and it was debated.
