On the recordFebruary 8, 2018
I appreciate the keen insights of my friend and distinguished colleague, the Senator from Maine. I would point out here that there was a process on the tax bill. It may not have been perfect--in fact, it wasn't--but there was a process. We had amendments. We were allowed to offer them, to have them considered. We did, in fact, take votes. There is no process on this. I have been told by some of the Members of this body--some from my party, some from the other party--that there is a process because members of the Appropriations Committee have had input on this. That isn't a process that belongs to the Senate; that is for one committee. It is not a substitute for floor consideration. There is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that makes certain kinds of amendments to the Constitution patently unconstitutional. That provision says that you can't do anything to alter the equal representation of the States within the U.S. Senate. Consistent with the spirit of that provision, we have to make sure we don't make changes to Senate procedure in a way that creates a super class of Senators. We don't want to get to a point, to paraphrase George Orwell, where we say all Senators are equal but some are more equal than others. The process within the Appropriations Committee is not Senate process. We did, in fact, have a process on the tax bill. It was not perfect, but it was a process. Here, there isn't a process. Here, there is not an opportunity for amendments.…
