Eugene McCarthy Quotes

The minority in the Senate has the power to prevent the majority from acting.

The Senate is the last primitive society in the world. We still worship the elders of the tribe and honor the territorial imperative.

Filibusters have proliferated because under current rules just one or two determined senators can stop the Senate from functioning. Today, the mere threat of a filibuster is enough to stop a vote; senators are rarely asked to pull all-nighters like Jimmy Stewart in 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.'

We've seen filibusters of bills and nominations that ultimately passed with 90 or more votes. Why filibuster something that has that kind of support? Just to slow down the process and keep the Senate from working.

Filibuster is a harsh word. I prefer to offer amendments and let others filibuster.

Filibuster is nothing less than a formula for tyranny by the minority

What has the filibuster become? The filibuster has become a tool for slowing everything down…a tool by which one senator who announces that his object is to impose gridlock on the Senate, can do so.

We have a level of obstruction and an abuse of the Senate rules that we have never had before… We have a dysfunctional Senate. Some say it’s a broken Senate.

The Senate was designed not to be efficient. If was designed to slow things down, And it does a pretty good job of it.

Each of us has these little desks that you can’t write anything on. But inside the drawer the names of the previous senators using that desk are carved in the wood.

I don’t care how long it takes. I don’t care if the Senate doesn’t do one other piece of business this year. You’ve got to keep this bill on the floor. You can tell Mansfield [the Senate Majority Leader] … The President of the United States doesn’t care if this bill is there forever. We are not going to have anything else hit the floor until this bill is passed.

As every newspaper reader, liberal activist, or parliamentary junkie knows, the overarching barrier to most of Obama's agenda is the abuse of the filibuster in the Senate. In fact, several of Obama's second term priorities are not ideas in search of a majority - they are majorities in search of an up-or-down vote.

This has not been a legislative process worthy of the Senate. Members of the Judiciary Committee, as I just said, were implored to save their amendments for the floor. Then, when we got here, we were told no amendments could be accepted.

There is no Senate rule governing the proper uses of the filibuster.

It used to be in the Senate that if you were filibustering, you stood up. There was a physical dimension to it, that you - when you became exhausted you would have to leave the floor. That was the idea of the filibuster.

The Senate as an institution is broken. We're not doing the work of the American people and the rules are being abused. The only way to get us back to the traditions where the Senate is doing the work of the American people is to change the rules.

The House of Representatives eliminated the filibuster way back in the 19th century, and somehow it managed to survive.

The Senate must stop doing so much of its business in secret, behind closed doors…. A bill that affects the nation’s security has been held up for months by a secret hold and cannot see the light of day…. There is no accountability…. The person who exercises a hold ought to be identified…. Secret holds have been the bane of the United States Senate for decades. So much for sunshine in the United States Senate.

You run Washington DC though the House. The Senate gets in the way. The President gets in the way.

The leaders of the Senate ... have no power delegated to them except on the basis of courtesy, accommodation, and a sense of responsibility.

Anyone who works in the Senate is often in doubt as to the will of the Senate.

The Senate should not be a graveyard for good ideas.

Some people may call it a filibuster. I call it an extended educational dialogue.

Let the filibuster be no more. Let the people decide.

We’ve been through the House. We’ve been through the Senate. We’ve been through the rantings and ravings. The time is now.