Orrin Hatch: “I thank my dear friend from New York. I consider him one of the better Senators in the Senate and a dear friend and a…”

“I thank my dear friend from New York. I consider him one of the better Senators in the Senate and a dear friend and a person I have always been able to work with. He is tough--there is no question about that--but so am I, although nobody knows that. I just want to speak for a few minutes on this extender package. It is a bipartisan bill. It took a lot of work to put it together. We had to bring everybody on the Finance Committee together, and that is about 25 percent of the Senate. We all had a chance to bring up amendments whether they were germane or not, which is the right of Senators. Sometimes we get some embarrassing amendments, but that is part of the charm of this body. The fact is, if you just want to have germane amendments, that is not what the U.S. Senate stands for and that is not what the rules say. I don't blame anybody who wants to do that who is trying to push their bill, but let's not take away the rights of Members of the Senate. Let's not take away the right of debate we have always had on this floor that gives the Senate such charm and also allows everybody to participate and bring up whatever they feel is right. Sometimes we have to call a halt to it. After days or weeks of debate on major bills, such as this one, the majority leader may want to end the debate because he feels as though it is enough.…”