Political Quotes

“a lot of people are asking what happened between the optimism of yesterday morning that centered on real progress, as people did come around working together, both sides of the aisle, on a Hagel-Martinez amendment, and this morning where it looks as if everything has been obstructed, stopped, stonewalled. There are talks of obstruction from the other side of the aisle. What has happened is no amendments have been allowed by the other side of the aisle to come to the floor to be debated, to be discussed, to be voted upon. Rollcall votes or voice votes--zero over the last 24 hours, where the clear understanding yesterday morning was that we would have an opportunity to allow Senators to express themselves on votes. The Democratic leadership has effectively stopped, put a halt to that great progress that was being made yesterday morning, by not allowing amendments. Yes, they put a stranglehold on the right of every Senator to offer amendments and to have his or her views expressed and acted upon. The facts tell the story. Over the last 9 days, on complex issues based on a very good, solid product generated by the Judiciary Committee, about 400 amendments have been filed and only 3 of 400 have been allowed by the other side of the aisle to come to the floor to be voted upon. Only 3 out of 400. That tells the whole story.…”