Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman. I thank him for having this People's Night 2, so as to take the opportunity to speak to the American people about, really, what have become a lot of frustrations since they elected a Republican House and a Republican Senate. In fact, I did a tele-townhall last night, and a number of comments and questions that I had was: Why can't you guys get more bills to the President's desk? I had to explain that there is a 60-vote filibuster, the modern filibuster--a 60-vote threshold--over in the Senate. I had to explain what a modern filibuster rule is in the Senate. A Senator from the great State of South Carolina actually filibustered on the floor. He spoke for 48 hours without stopping, without sitting down. He held the floor of the Senate to make a point for 48 hours. That is the traditional filibuster that you hear about. Today, in the 21st century, when we hear that a Senator has filed a filibuster and that there is a 60-vote threshold to get over, what that means is a Senator has just put his name on a bill, and he doesn't have to go down and utter a single word, and he doesn't have to stand on the floor for a single minute. In fact, he can go to Charlie Palmer's and have a steak and call it a ``filibuster.'' America, this is wrong. I had a conversation with some Senate staff today because I think they ought to change their Senate rules. They said: Well, the Senator--and he is a Senator I respect a lot-- disagrees with your position.…”