Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator, and I appreciate the Chair's courtesy. I think Senator Kerry was down here earlier today talking a little about procedures, and I want to follow up on that. I know we have a number of people back in the cloakroom wondering about how we go forward with the amendment process. So I just thought I could enter into a conversation with him through the Chair. Unlike most procedures, this is a situation where you have a 60-vote cloture and your ability or your strength on the issue itself rises because it actually takes 67 votes, or two-thirds, of those voting to actually ratify a treaty. So it is not like on a cloture vote on the floor where you go from a 60-vote threshold to 51, where you are weakened. In this case, you are actually strengthened because it takes more votes after cloture to actually pass this piece of legislation. So I just wanted to, if I could, verify with Senator Kerry the process of actually offering amendments, not just on the treaty-- because I know we are still on the treaty--but also on the resolution of ratification, where I think numbers of amendments might actually be approved and accepted.”