Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we lost this important vote today 57 to 41. For people who are watching who may not be familiar with the peculiarities of the Senate, you might think to yourself: How on Earth did you lose 57 to 41? It sounds to the ordinary person like you won by 16. What do you mean you lost 57 to 41? How could that have happened? That happened because the other party, as it has done throughout the Obama administration, has used an arcane Senate procedure called the filibuster more times than ever in the history of this country to block progress for this administration. The rule requires that the majority get to 60 when the minority so demands, and they have been demanding that 60 on everything over and over. There have been years when it was almost never used. There have been years when it was used two or three times. In really bad years, it might have been used 14, 15 times. This group of Republican colleagues has set the record. They use it on everything. I think we are over 100 acts of obstruction and delay around this filibuster rule as a result. If one is wondering why we lost 57 to 41-- if that sounds strange--we got the 57 votes, they got the 41, and we lost--it is because they are pulling out of the rule book this procedural trick so that the majority does not rule, so they can block progress. They are doing it for what they claim is concern about deficits.…”