Political Quotes

“I would notify the assistant Republican leader I will be making a unanimous consent request in a few minutes after my remarks. I do not want him to be surprised by that. Members representing all corners of this great Nation have been working hard on amendments to improve this comprehensive immigration bill. For a week now we have been trying to negotiate a package of noncontroversial amendments to be included in this legislation. In my experience over the years, both in the majority and in the minority, for whatever bill you had before the Senate, when you have a list of noncontroversial amendments, they are simply agreed to by everybody and put in a managers' package so as not to take up a day voting on things that are going to pass anyway. Last week I filed a managers' package of amendments. I removed from this list the ones that have been objected to by other Members. Instead, though, the Republican minority has taken the position that in order to even clear a few noncontroversial amendments--which includes both Republican and Democratic amendments--the majority must agree to vote on dozens of highly contentious measures, including amendments being offered by Senators who have said that no matter what happens they are going to oppose the legislation. In my experience, under both Democratic and Republican leadership in the Senate, that has never been considered reasonable.…”