Patrick Leahy: “And Senator Dole, and also having served as minority leader back and forth--all of them realized that anyone can come…”

“And Senator Dole, and also having served as minority leader back and forth--all of them realized that anyone can come down at any moment of inattention and, using the rules, gain a one-time advantage. With all the distinguished leaders, I never saw a single one of them do that, even when over and over again they had an opportunity to do it. Many times when I was chairman of the Agriculture Committee, when I was chairman of Judiciary Committee, when I was chairman of the Foreign Operations Committee, and when I was chairman of a number of others, we would have hotly contested issues and cases where the ranking Member, the only other person on the floor, had to leave the floor for a phone call or something like that. And, of course, I always protected their rights. That is something that has been done. It is the role of the majority leader, of course, to try to move legislation forward. It has always been my feeling, whether being in the majority or in the minority, that the majority leader should do that.”