Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator for his advocacy, but I do believe that final vote to change the rule was by a two-thirds vote. If you get a two-thirds vote, you can impose your will--when we do it. The question is, Can you change the rule by a simple majority? I would say the Constitution does not say what the vote level should be, and it may be possible lawfully to ignore the Senate rule that says it takes a two-thirds vote to change the rules on the first day of session. It may be possible legally to do that. But I would urge my colleagues not to do that. Just for short-term political gain, we are going to change the historic rules of the Senate, changing the rules of debate in this kind of way? It would be a dangerous alteration of the nature of the Senate, as so many of our more seasoned colleagues have warned us. I will just urge you not to do that. I will say to both of my fine colleagues that an offer has been made, one I think I am not real happy with, by Senator McConnell. Negotiations are under way now to try to resolve some of the difficulties that are ongoing. But I would urge you to pull back and not pull the trigger on what has been called the nuclear option--to use a simple majority to change the rules of the Senate--which could change the very nature of how we do business and the qualities of the Senate that make it different from the House. That is my concern there. So the filling of the tree--one more thing I would like to say about that. I had a chart on it.…”