Arlen Specter: “I have an observation to make--and perhaps it would be an admonition or a warning--that the Senate is about to become…”

“I have an observation to make--and perhaps it would be an admonition or a warning--that the Senate is about to become irrelevant. We have, on the other side of the Rotunda, the House of Representatives taking up the issue of Iraq, which all Members here, with the speeches just made, agree is the most pressing issue facing the country, but the Senate can't address it. And the Senate can't address it because the majority leader has exercised his right under rule XV to fill the tree, which precludes any action by the Republicans, unless we Republicans exercise our right to withhold cloture.”