[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 14 (Sunday, January 21, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1415
                    FIFTY-ONE PERCENT IS A MAJORITY

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, my friend, Sammy Mahon, from Baytown, 
Texas, drives a jet-black Peterbilt tractor all over America, and he 
asked this logical question: Why does it take 60 votes for the Senate 
to make a decision?
  He said: Well, the rule--I can't really say what he said; I'll just 
use the word ``nutty.''
  Why have this rule? We all learned in elementary school that 51 
percent is a majority. By requiring 60 votes to make a decision, 
government is ruled by the few, not the majority; thus, a handful of 
Senators can block progress.
  The result? The government is shut down. The military is not paid. 
Lovely.
  The Senate inconsistently allows the majority rule in some votes but, 
on others, 60 percent. The Senate should strongly consider what Sammy 
thinks about this archaic rule: make a decision with 50 percent, 
regardless of what party is in charge.
  Sammy is right. This undemocratic rule is nutty. The sky will not 
fall if the Senate makes decisions by majority rule.
  And that is just the way it is.

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