Political Quotes

“shortly after I arrived in the Senate, in 2002, Republicans--my political party--became the majority party, and I quickly learned a few important lessons. First of all, being in the majority is better than being in the minority. But part of the price of being in the majority is that sometimes you have to take some tough votes via the amendment process. In other words, when the Senate is operating the way it was originally intended--and which it always has until recently--any Senator has the right to seek recognition and offer an amendment on almost any topic on almost any bill. My colleagues told me at the time--they said: It has always been that way, and it is the way it always should be, if we are serious about protecting minority rights. So why should I care, being a Member of the majority, about protecting minority rights in the Senate? Well, in the intervening years, my political party has gone from being in the majority in the Senate to being in the minority. That is one reason to care. The other reason to care is because every Senator was elected by their constituents in their State to represent their State, and when any Senator--whether they are in the majority or the minority--is shut out of the process, their constituents are shut out of the process. That is not what the Constitution contemplates when it says that each State has a right to send two Senators to Washington.…”