Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Reserving the right to object, what I think I hear the majority leader saying is that any amendment offered by any Republican is controversial and thus must require 60 votes.

It was my hope we could get forward on this appropriations bill with a full and open amendment process and a reasonable number of amendments from both sides.

The only restrictions on amendments to this bill are those in the Standing Rules of the Senate, which create a requirement that the amendments deal with an appropriations matter or, if legislative in nature, have a defense of germaneness to one of the underlying House appropriations bills.

Chairman Mikulski has been determined to try to get us back to regular order in considering appropriations bills.

In 2011, just a couple of years ago, we considered this same appropriations package--the very one we are considering now under the regular order--and all Senators, Democrat and Republican, were treated fairly--just 3 years ago.

Today's Senate is a totally different place. The majority leader has blocked all but nine rollcall votes on Republican amendments since July of last year. That is about a year ago.

By contrast, during that same period, House Democrats got 153 amendments, rollcall votes, over that same period of time. That is in the House where you would think it would be hard for the minority to get amendments.

In fact, one Member of Congress, Sheila Jackson Lee from Houston, has had 15 amendments herself. Sheila Jackson Lee has had more votes over the past year than Senate Republicans. In fact, the House seems to have turned into the Senate and the Senate seems to have turned into the House.

The gag rule, as was pointed out by Senator Alexander and others this morning in an appropriations meeting, seems to now apply to committee meetings as well. So not only do we not get votes on the floor, we don't get votes in committee either.

They cancelled the scheduled markup on the Energy and Water bill, I assume out of concern that some Republican amendment might, my goodness, actually pass with Democratic support. So we are being shut out of amendments in committee as well as on the floor.

When do we start legislating again? What has happened to the Senate?

Therefore, I would ask unanimous consent that the proposed agreement by the majority leader be modified so that all amendments be considered under the regular order, Chairman Mikulski and Ranking Member Shelby, and move this bill across the floor in a bipartisan manner exactly as we did it on the very same bill back in 2011.

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