Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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The American people actually need to know what is happening in their Senate. This body exists to ensure that the citizens of this country have a say in what our government does. The Senate is supposed to be the citadel of our democracy, the place where we guarantee that no one in the country is cut out of the legislative process. The whole purpose of this body is to make sure that nobody is left out or left behind.

Yet today we have a Democratic majority that has turned this body literally on its head. Instead of preserving the Senate's prerogatives, they have systematically weakened or destroyed them all together. They have turned the Senate into a graveyard of good ideas and open democratic debate.

It is a gag order on the American people we represent. Instead of robust, freewheeling debates about the important issues of the day, we get bizarre monologues about the Democrats' latest villain.

We get silly, shameful attacks on private citizens. So in one sense it is fitting that the majority leader announced today he wants to rewrite the Constitution. I mean, at least you have to give them marks for consistency.

They are already muzzling our constituents by blocking amendments, and now they want to muzzle them even more by changing the Bill of Rights. This is completely out of control.

Even if the Democratic majority doesn't like our ideas or those of our constituents, the answer isn't to take away their constitutionally guaranteed right to speak their minds. The answer isn't to shut down their representatives' ability to influence legislation through amendments. The answer, my friends, is to come up with better arguments. The answer is to actually convince people in a free and open marketplace of ideas that you are right.

Why are Washington Democrats so afraid of a free and open exchange of ideas? What are they afraid of? Do they have that little faith in the judgment of the people we represent? Over the past few weeks we have seen just how scared our friends on the other side are of a free and open debate.

A big majority wants to repeal President Obama's medical device tax; 79 people in this body voted for it. They won't allow a vote on it.

The American people want to see a vote on the Keystone Pipeline. Most Senators say they want to vote on it too, but we are not allowed to vote on it.

We have a tax bill that Members on both sides want to improve and Members on both sides want to support. Yet we don't get a chance to amend it.

We should have certainty in our Tax Code instead of these endless expirations that only make it harder for people to prepare and for businesses to plan and to compete. They don't want to do that either. They are completely allergic--completely and totally allergic--to anything that is constructive.

What they are doing is muzzling the people of this country, a gag order on the people we were sent to the Senate to represent--all presumably to protect their power. This is really quite scandalous. The American people need to know what is happening in their Senate because this is bigger than any one bill. It is about protecting the right of the American people to have a say in what goes on in Washington.

We represent millions of people on this side of the aisle. They represent many of the people on their side of the aisle. I think there are something like 40 or so Democratic amendments pending to this bill--Democratic Senators who offered amendments to this bill who will not be heard.

This is all about protecting the one opportunity they have to shut us out. It is about a party that has become so afraid of losing its hold on power that they are willing to do just about anything to hold onto it--even if it means, as I said earlier, to try to amend the Bill of Rights.

We have a lot of smart people on the Democratic side, but I expect none of them are smarter than James Madison. Yet apparently they decided--after a couple of hundred years--Madison's work is not sufficient. They want to recommend we amend the Bill of Rights. What is before us today is not that; it is a tax extender bill.

Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that if cloture is invoked on Senate amendment No. 3060, the Wyden substitute, the amendment be considered original text for the purpose of amendment; and notwithstanding the provisions of rule XXII, it be in order for the Republican leader or his designee to offer the Toomey amendment related to the medical device tax, and that amendments then be offered in alternating fashion between the majority and the minority, with all amendments being related to tax policy.

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