Senate Reform Quotes

Montanans elected me to the Senate to do away with shady backroom deals and to make government work better.

I firmly believe the Senate should see more voting and debate and less standing around and waiting for backroom deals.

The Senate needs a lot more diversity, and I bring quadruple diversity.

I think it's a time to be sad about what's been done to the United States Senate, the greatest deliberative body in the world.

Canadians understand that our Senate, as it stands today, must either change or … vanish

I had always heard that Mitch McConnell was a master legislator and a true loyalist to this institution. But in the 18 months I've been in the Senate, what I've seen is an astonishingly limited vision for what the Senate can and should accomplish. What a waste.

Reform is not for the short-winded. I'm committed to making sure the Senate is more than just a graveyard for good ideas.

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.

Let's clean up the Senate and return to politics of common ground.

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.

President Barack Obama has it right - there is a lot to change about Washington. The problem is, not much will get changed unless we confront the runaway filibuster in the U.S. Senate.

A lot of the people in Northern California and parts of Oregon have decided that we are not on the same page as San Francisco and Portland and Los Angeles. I don't know if six states is a solution because is Washington, D.C. and the rest of the country really going to give California 10 new senators?

The Senate could use more people who had to sweat for a living and fewer of the politicians who made this mess.

Someday a political genius will come along and make the Senate work.

Senator Chris Dodd unveiled his plan to reduce corruption in the Senate. He's retiring.

I think there's bipartisan support in the Senate to pass a good reform bill.

I think if we had eight or 12 of us in the Senate who came from my business background, you'd see a lot of different things in government.

Validity was restored to the laws, authority to the courts, and dignity to the Senate

Improving some of the rules under which the Senate functions can begin to replace some of the bad habits Washington has developed with better ones.

It's a cliche that the Senate is broken, and like most cliches, it's true.

My fervent expectation is that sooner rather than later, the United States Senate will more closely reflect the rich diversity of this great country.

I think it's not just Republicans who would like to see the Senate run differently. I think there are a reasonable number of Democrats as well.

If you want to kill your own child because the Senate straightens out its crooked limbs, you must take the responsibility and accept the verdict of history.

When it comes to Senate reform, in general, I've always been a believer in an elected Senate and would hope to achieve aspects of Senate reform.