[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 33 (Thursday, March 7, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S1239]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             REGULAR ORDER

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, my Republican colleagues love to extol the 
virtues of regular order. If only we could get back to regular order, 
they say, we could function again. Yesterday, we saw both sides of 
that.
  On the one hand, my Republican colleagues did practice regular order. 
On the other, they didn't. Let's take the one they didn't.
  They demanded a 60-vote threshold for confirmation of a very 
qualified nominee, Caitlin Halligan, to be United States Court of 
Appeals Judge for the DC Circuit. Republicans once again hid behind a 
cloture vote--filibuster, by another term--to prevent a simple up-or-
down vote on this important nomination. They took the easy way out.
  On the other hand, one Republican Senator did return to regular 
order. As is his right, he spoke for as long as he was able to speak. 
And that is a filibuster. After 12 hours standing and talking, this is 
how Senator Paul ended his filibuster:

       I would go for another 12 hours to try to break Strom 
     Thurmond's record, but I've discovered there are some limits 
     to filibustering and I'm going to have to take care of one of 
     those in a few minutes here.

  Well, I have been involved in a few filibusters, as Rand Paul was 
yesterday, and what I have learned from my experiences with talking 
filibusters is this: To succeed, you need strong convictions but also a 
strong bladder. It is obvious Senator Paul has both.
  We should all reflect on what happened yesterday as we proceed with 
other nominations, including a lot of judicial nominations. This can be 
a Senate where ideas are debated in full public view and obstruction 
happens in full public view as well or it can be a Senate where a 
couple Senators obstruct from behind closed doors without ever coming 
to the Senate floor.

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