Political Quotes

“I echo and endorse the wise comments just uttered by my friend and colleague, the distinguished Senator from Missouri. What we are witnessing here is the destruction of the legislative process in the Senate. The Senate is here today preparing to vote on one of the most significant pieces of legislation this entire Congress--that is, a bill to send nearly $100 billion overseas--and Senators are unable even to offer an amendment to that bill. By filling the amendment tree this afternoon, the majority leader has prevented every single Member of this body from offering amendments to the legislation, any efforts to improve it. If we want to have any amendment considered, we have to beg the majority leader to let it come before the full Senate for a vote. You may remember that just a couple of months ago, we were in a very similar position on a very, very similar bill. Senator Schumer promised a ``fair and open'' amendment process on the national security supplemental in February of this year, but not one amendment--not a single amendment--was considered on the Senate floor. Republicans filed over 150 proposed amendments to improve the bill, but not one vote on a single one of those amendments or any other was allowed. Why? Why? Well, Senator Schumer blocked every amendment from even being considered by filling the amendment tree. That blocked all of the other 99 Senators from participating meaningfully in that process. Now, why wouldn't he want amendments?…”