[国会记录:2010年5月11日(参议院)][第3532页]秘密举行
     伯德先生。总统先生，我最近拒绝签署一份正在流传的信，在信中某些参议员保证不会“秘密”限制立法和提名。这封信的签字人做出了非常广泛的承诺，在没有全面公开解释这一要求的情况下，不会要求领导层推迟参议院对某一问题的审议。当一小部分人——通常只有一个人——滥用参议院的礼节，滥用匿名原则，无限期拖延对某些问题的行动时，我和我的任何同事一样坚决地坚持，参议员们应该来到参议院，让人们知道他们的反对意见。当这种礼貌被滥用时，我支持其他人的努力，并提出了一些我自己的建议，在一段时间后忽略持有。我准备再次支持这种努力。但我也认为，在某些情况下，参议员应该私下对领导层立即考虑的问题提出反对意见，并要求给予合理的时间来解决他们的担忧，这是适当的，甚至是重要的。有些时候，参议员搁置提名或议案，不是为了拖延行动，而是为了在议案提交表决之前得到通知，以便他们准备修正案或更容易地安排日程。这是对所有参议员的礼遇。在许多情况下，合理的暂停请求并没有什么邪恶或邪恶的。 Certainly, public disclosures are not necessary every time Senators want to slightly alter the Senate schedule for the coming week. Certainly, public disclosures are not necessary every time Senators request consultation or advanced notification on a matter coming to the floor. I appreciate that some Senators may be frustrated with what they believe are abuses of the Senate rules, but I also hope that Senators will endeavor to understand--before they suggest pledges or propose less than well-reasoned changes--that the rules, precedents, customs, practices, traditions, and courtesies of the Senate have been forged over hundreds of years and after much trial and experience. After all, the benefit of this experience is to preserve the institutional protection of all Senators and their efforts to fairly represent the people of their States. The Senate is not the House of Representatives and was never intended to function as such. The Senate's purpose is to carefully and critically examine, not to expedite. Unfortunately, when the Senate rules and customs are abused and Senators become frustrated, it can lead to ill-considered changes, and sometimes the pendulum can swing too far. Let us try to keep the institutional purpose of the Senate uppermost in mind. The Nation certainly requires the extended debate and deliberation that those time-honored rules, precedents, and customs are designed to guarantee.
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