Political Quotes

“we are definitely proceeding in an unusual manner at this point in time in the history of the U.S. Senate. We are moving under regular order. Nominations are being processed in regular order. Votes are being held. Debate is being shut off by the appropriate procedures. But it is unusual from what we have been doing all year and what we have been doing historically. So I guess the question is, how did we get to this point? What has happened in the Senate that has caused the difficulties we now have? I believe it is becoming clear to our colleagues that actions that have been taking place in recent days have altered the very nature of the Senate, have eroded the collegiality that makes this body work on a daily basis, the kind of actions in which people unanimously agreed to allow things to happen different from the regular order, that allowed things to be proceeded up and go faster and move forward. It has been done on a regular basis. But we have had a conflict, an alteration in the rules of the Senate that is so serious that it impacts the very nature of this institution and causing great concern. We have a lot of new Members in the Senate, and they have not seen how the Senate operated just in the--what?--16, 17 years I have been here. I have seen the great change, and it is a concern to me, and it is even different from that more classical operation before I came here.…”