Political Quotes

“Madam President, it brings me no pleasure to make the remarks I feel compelled to make today. I think it is important for us to understand how we, the Senate of the United States, are operating. The Senate--the legislative body heralded by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd as the second great senate in history, the first being the Roman Senate--is being eroded beyond recognition by the tactics utilized by Senate Majority Leader Reid and those who support him in that process. Today is Constitution Day. It was Senator Byrd who moved legislation to declare today Constitution Day. Under that Constitution, there are two bodies in the Congress, the House and the Senate, and the Senate has always been known as the body where great debates are held, with an open ability to amend and discuss, and the great issues of the day are laid out. That is what we are about. But the Senate has changed dramatically since I have been in the Senate, some 18 years, and not for the better--not for the better of the American people. It might be good for politicians, but it is not good for the American people and it is not good for the public interest, in my view. As has been happening time and again, we are once again today, at nigh on the eleventh hour, being asked to vote for a spending bill before we recess. We have to recess, you see. Why? So Senators can go home to campaign, but we are being paid, whether we are here or back home or vacationing or whatever.…”