[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6102-6103]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           AMENDMENT PROCESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I listened carefully to the remarks of 
my friend the majority leader about the

[[Page 6103]]

amendment process. I certainly commend him for the way in which we have 
operated this year. As he well knows, 41 Republicans signed a letter to 
him a couple months ago indicating this is an issue about which 
Republican Members, regardless of their particular political 
philosophy--and we do have lots of different philosophies represented 
in those 41 Members--felt very strongly about. I commend the majority 
leader for responding. I think it has given the Senate an opportunity 
to operate again such as it did in the past. I think Members are, by 
and large, on both sides of the aisle, comfortable with voting. People 
send us here to vote. My 41 Republicans represent half the American 
population, and they are certainly entitled to have their say. I think 
we are operating in a way that is widely accepted and popular on both 
sides of the aisle.

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