Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would say, through the Chair, to my colleague from Alaska that that is absolutely the case. I don't think there is any question but that, if the legislative filibuster is done away with in a future Senate--and, again, Members on the Democratic side are talking openly about doing that if they gain the majority after the election in November--it will transform the institution of the Senate and, by extension, transform our country. The institution that was designed to protect minority rights and to put a check on a majority will no longer be a functioning institution in the way the Founders intended. In fact, it will essentially become, as the Senator from Alaska pointed out, the House of Representatives with longer terms. I think that would be unfortunate for a country that was based upon a system of checks and balances and that recognized very early on how critical it was that minority rights be a part of our public debate and discussion and that those voices not be muffled or that those voices not be completely put out of the public debate. I would simply say to my colleague from Alaska that I think this is a monumental issue in terms of what this institution has meant to this country and what it will continue to mean in the future if these rules are changed and this constitutional protection, as we have pointed out, is done away with.…”