Tim Kaine: “Senator Cotton, what Angus said. And I am so glad that Senator Lankford has stayed in the room because you have been…”

“Senator Cotton, what Angus said. And I am so glad that Senator Lankford has stayed in the room because you have been saying we changed our position. You just really need to read the letter. And I do appreciate that you put it up because others were referring to the letter without doing that. The operative phrase is exactly what you read: ``We are united in our determination to preserve the ability of Members to engage in extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor.'' We couldn't even debate this bill. You guys wouldn't let us. You kept using the 60-vote block on the motion to proceed so that we couldn't get on the bill. In the 5 years since 2017, many of us have come to realize, this is what we want, but the current abuse of Senate rules is blocking us from having discussions about voting rights or about matters that you think are important. This is still what we want. We want the ability to have extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor. That is what the motion will eventually be about when we vote on it later today, to move to a talking filibuster instead of a secret filibuster. The way to look at the rule change that we are going to contemplate later is, if you really love the filibuster--and the word ``filibuster'' isn't in this letter at all, but if you really love the filibuster, do you demand that it stay secret or should it be carried out open, publicly, in view of the voters and your Senate colleagues? That is what the vote will be.…”