Thomas Daschle: “we have witnessed an extraordinary political spectacle in the last 24 hours. Yesterday we spent approximately 3 hours in…”

“we have witnessed an extraordinary political spectacle in the last 24 hours. Yesterday we spent approximately 3 hours in a quorum call because the Republican caucus could not decide how to respond to a simple Sense of the Senate amendment commending the Million Mom March and demanding that this Congress act now to pass sensible gun safety legislation. Today, the Republicans attempted for the second time to rule our amendment out of order. What, I ask, is so disconcerting about the Democratic amendment? Are there really members of this Senate who do not believe that the stalling has gone on too long? Are there really members of this Senate who believe that it is not a national emergency that children are dying in this country every day from gun violence? Are there really members of this Senate who believe that this emergency is too insignificant to command time on the Senate floor? Yesterday, after 3 hours of silence and paralysis, our Republican colleagues decided that they could not simply join us in commending the Million Moms. Instead, they decided to offer their own amendment. Let us not be distracted. We will vote on the Republican amendment, but the vote that matters, the vote that may just prevent more kids from dying, is on the amendment I have offered.”