-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I have a little advice, really, of a parliamentary nature for the U.S. Senate. I hope it will be taken in the constructive spirit that it is intended. This week, the Senate is expected, once again, to vote on a budget resolution. It is among the most important actions we will take all year.

Unfortunately, one unpleasant aspect of this process will be the so- called vote-arama. We just had one a few weeks ago. There is no specific mention of the vote-arama in the 1974 Congressional Budget Act. This process was never envisioned by the drafters of the budget law. But it evolved to its current form because the Congressional Budget Act allows debate up to 20 hours and does not restrict the number of amendments Senators can offer.

Here is how it actually works. And you know this quite well, Mr. President, as a new Member of the Senate. On the day of the amendment votes, Senators will sit around on the floor and in the Cloakrooms and in the anterooms of the Chamber and stare at each other all day, make offers and counteroffers. Then late in the day, usually in the early evening, we begin debate. We make brief 1-minute speeches, and we vote over and over and over into the wee hours of the morning.

One result is that the process is, by then, hidden, relegated to the darkness of nighttime. Most Americans are already asleep when we get down to business in the vote-arama. What they miss, though, is mostly political theater. In this production, the roles never change. I have been in the minority at times during my tenure in the Senate. I have been in the majority, as I am now. But the roles stay the same. The minority party has one job: to offer amendments--germane or not, pertinent or not--that put the majority in an uncomfortable position.

As a Member of the minority party, I have done that. The majority party has the job of defeating every amendment, if possible. It doesn't matter what the merit of the amendments are. The majority party often defeats each one. Why? Because otherwise, we would delay the important work of actually, finally, getting to passage of a budget reconciliation bill, which will come later.

The vote-arama hardly ever has any budgetary substance. The vote- arama is merely a messaging process. Every Member of the Senate, minority and majority, knows this. Americans at least deserve to hear this debate during the light of day. Both parties can achieve their goals without running this process into the wee hours of the morning, which is what we always do.

Over the last few weeks, I have talked with Members on both sides of the aisle, my Republican colleagues and our Democratic friends. I floated the idea of a unanimous consent agreement to conduct these votes during the light of day. I simply say, Mr. President, there is widespread support among the rank and file for getting this done during working hours.

So I would urge the leadership of both parties and all Members of both parties--because it takes unanimous consent--to adopt a unanimous consent agreement that avoids the political theater of a dead-of-night vote-arama. The American people deserve better. And I would like to think the U.S. Senate is better than the process we have come to practice.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source