Political Quotes

“Mr. President, before I came to the Senate, I read in the history and civics books that the Senate was called the world's greatest deliberative body, where anybody with a good idea or even a bad idea at least had an opportunity to talk about it, offer an amendment or legislation, and get a vote. That is what was meant by ``the world's greatest deliberative body.'' Unfortunately, the Senate has become virtually unrecognizable to those of us who began our tenure under the previous leadership of the Senate. Simply put, we have gone from an institution that legislates, that debates the great ideas to solve the problems and challenges of this great democracy to one that has become a killing floor for good ideas. We have had at least three bipartisan bills in the last few weeks the majority leader has stopped because he has refused the opportunity for Republicans in the minority and the Democrats in the majority to offer any amendments and to get votes. I think about the Shaheen-Portman bill, the energy conservation bill, the tax extenders bill for the expiring 50 or so tax provisions, and the appropriations bill that recently was on the Senate floor. All of these pieces of legislation enjoy bipartisan support. So one would think, in a dysfunctional Senate, at least those kinds of bills would have the opportunity to get debate, amendment, and passage. That is not the case because the majority leader insists on a ``my way or the highway'' mentality.…”