[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 5, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15-S16]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SENATE PROCEDURE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, happy new year to you. And happy new year to 
all my colleagues, those returning to the Senate and those taking 
office today for the first time.
  I am honored, humbled, and will forever be grateful that the people 
of Nevada have entrusted me with another term as a Senator. I will 
continue working hard to create jobs for the people of my State and our 
country and get our country back on track. I am also grateful for the 
continued support and confidence of my caucus, which has given me the 
honor of serving as its leader. Neither title--Senator nor majority 
leader--is a responsibility I take lightly or for granted.
  They say you can never step in the same river twice; new water flows 
in replacing the old and continually renewing the river. The Senate is 
the same. This body never stops changing. Every 2 years--occasionally 
more frequently--new Senators take their seats in this Chamber. They 
join the Senate family in this ever-evolving team of 100 tasked with 
moving the country forward. Our fundamental responsibilities and 
traditions anchor us in that river. Our respect and reverence for the 
people we serve and this institution never wavers or changes.
  According to academics, pundits, and Congress watchers, the 111th 
Congress was the most productive in American history. But many 
challenges and opportunities still lie ahead for this new Congress that 
starts today. We have to do even more to help middle-class families, to 
create jobs, to hasten our energy independence, to improve our 
children's education, and to fix our broken immigration system. We also 
have to make sure the Senate can operate in a way that allows the 
people's elected legislators to legislate.
  We will soon debate some reforms to Senate procedure, reforms 
proposed not for the sake of change itself or for partisan gain but 
because the current system has been abused and abused gratuitously. The 
filibuster in particular has been abused and in truly unprecedented 
fashion. There are strong passions on both sides of this debate on this 
issue. There are nearly as many opinions about what to do about these 
abuses as there are Senators. But let's start the conversation with 
some facts.
  There were about as many filibusters in the last two Congresses as 
there were in the first six and a half decades the cloture rules 
existed. There were nearly as many filibusters in just the last 2 years 
as there were in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and half of the 
1970s, all combined. In the entire 19th century, the Senate saw fewer 
than 12 filibusters. Now we see that many in a single month. Many of 
these recent filibusters were terribly unproductive. Many of them 
prevented us from even holding debate on a bill, let alone an up-or-
down vote. After we wasted hour after hour, day after day, sometimes 
weeks, many of those bills passed and

[[Page S16]]

many of those nominations were confirmed overwhelmingly and sometimes 
unanimously.
  I have been forced to use my right as majority leader to fill what we 
call the amendment tree more than I would have liked to, but it has 
been for a simple reason. Rather than offer amendments to improve 
legislation or compromise for the greater good, as Members of this body 
have done for generations, the current minority has offered amendments 
simply to waste time, delay us from proceeding to a bill or for scoring 
political points. The American people love government, but they don't 
like too much politics in government.
  Finally, these rules are central to the Senate, but they are not 
sacrosanct. Senate procedures and rules have changed since the Senate 
was founded at the beginning of this country when necessary and after 
serious consideration. Those decisions have never been made without 
great deliberation, and no future change should be made any 
differently.
  The recent abuses we have seen have hurt the Senate and hurt our 
country. They have hurt our economic recovery, and they hurt middle-
class families. They hurt the institutions that lead and shape America 
because they keep public servants and judges from these posts for no 
reason other than partisanship. Even Chief Justice Roberts criticized 
the Senate a few days ago for how few judges we confirmed and how 
slowly we do even the few we confirm. His criticism and concern are 
well founded. I hope all my colleagues consider the Chief Justice's 
warning and what it means for the pursuit of justice.
  Here is the bottom line: We may not agree yet on how to fix the 
problem, but no one can credibly claim problems don't exist. No one who 
has watched this body operate since the current minority took office 
can say it functions just fine. That wouldn't be true. It would be 
dishonest. No one can deny that the filibuster has been used for purely 
political reasons, reasons far beyond those for which this protection 
was invented and intended.
  I say through the Chair to my distinguished Republican counterpart, 
my friend, Senator McConnell, in the coming days, let's come together 
to find a solution. That is why we are here. I say to the 16 new 
Senators, we need to do some things to correct some of the things that 
have taken place. The Senate must solve problems, not create them. I am 
going to work to the best of my ability with my friend, the Senator 
from Kentucky, to work this out, to work out a compromise.
  The last time Congress convened without Senator Robert Byrd as a 
Member, Harry Truman was President of the United States and 42 of our 
100 Senators had not even been born. No one knew the Constitution 
better than Robert Byrd, and no one revered it more. He taught many of 
us many things. Among them, he taught me to carry the Constitution with 
me every day.
  I do that, Mr. President. I always have this copy of our founding 
document in my pocket, signed by Senator Byrd, one of the most fervent 
defenders of the Constitution. He has given me two of them. The first 
one wore out, but I have it in my desk in Searchlight. I have such 
fondness looking at what Senator Byrd wrote in it. As we all know, in 
his later years he had a benign tremor, and he shook a little bit when 
he wrote. But he wrote this, and I will always, always remember Senator 
Byrd, that fervent defender of this Constitution.
  He loved the Constitution. This coal miner's son loved the 
Constitution. Just like everyone in America, whether you are a coal 
miner's son or an academic's son, we all should love this Constitution, 
not just because of what is written in it but how those words were 
written and how it all came together.
  Senator Byrd knew our Constitution was created through compromise. At 
a moment of particular partisan strife, 15 years ago Senator Byrd came 
to this floor and said the following:

       I hope that we will all take a look at ourselves on both 
     sides of this aisle and understand also that we must work 
     together in harmony and with mutual respect for one another. 
     This very charter of government--

  Talking about the Constitution--

     under which we live was created in a spirit of compromise and 
     mutual concession. And it is only in that spirit that a 
     continuance of this charter of government can be prolonged 
     and sustained.

  That is what he said.
  Our friends in the House have decided to begin their daily business 
by reading the Constitution. In these first few minutes of the new 
Senate session, I think we should reflect on Senator Byrd's wise 
reminder of this Constitution's history. Like the Constitution, the 
agreement that established two separate and different Houses in the 
legislative branch was itself a compromise.
  Mr. President, it is written to be the Great Compromise that allowed 
us to have a Constitution. As much as ever before, our two branches 
need to find common ground if we are going to be productive for the 
people we serve and serve together.
  In that same speech a decade and a half ago, Senator Byrd reminded us 
that ``the welfare of the country is more dear than the mere victory of 
[a political] party.'' I think we would do well to heed those words as 
we debate and decide how to best serve the Nation and its people in 
this new year.
  Senators come and go. Majorities and minorities rotate like a rolling 
wheel, and records of service are written and rewritten. The only 
constant in this great democracy is change--a change we never 
anticipate. Sometimes we do, but most often we do not. Sixteen Senators 
who were here just a few days ago have moved on, and 16 new ones now 
take their seats. Laws that govern this Nation and the rules that 
govern this body continually evolve carefully and by necessity.
  But the most important change we can make in the 112th Congress is to 
work better and more closely as teammates, not as opponents; as 
partners, not as partisans; to fulfill our constitutional 
responsibility to pursue a more perfect union, establish justice, 
ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote 
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves 
and our posterity.

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