Political Quotes

“I say through the Chair to the majority leader, the offer, as I understand it, that was put forward by the majority leader with respect to the energy efficiency bill was that this bill would be passed with no amendments. There would be no debate, no amendments, and then somewhere down the road we might get the vote on the Keystone Pipeline. Well, it strikes me at least, as many of my colleagues on this side have been pointing out now for some time, that the way in which the majority leader is running the floor and calling up legislation, preventing amendments to be offered, to be debated and voted on, denies the rights not only of us as Senators but ignores the voices of the people we represent. So for the majority leader to say we will pass this bill without any amendment--energy is an important issue in many of our States. It is important in my State of South Dakota. It is important to a lot of Members on our side and I would suggest to a lot of Members on the leader's side who would like to have an opportunity to debate some amendments on energy if we are going to have an energy bill on the floor. The leaders came down and said no amendments, no debate, you pass this. We will jam this bill down without amendment, and then sometime we will get to the vote on Keystone. We would love to get a vote on Keystone. The leader can call that up at any time. We have been saying for some time we ought to have a vote on Keystone. There is broad bipartisan support for it in the Senate.…”