Ultimately, we're heading to having the smallest political tent in history, the way events have been unfolding. If the Republican Party fully intends… - Jean–Olympia Bouchles—Snow—Snoweová

We are not working out issues anymore. We are working on a parallel universe, with competing proposals, up or down votes.

I understand that the hyper-partisanship in Washington makes people feel alienated. They're frustrated and they're angry, and they should be, but they can do something about it. We've got to turn it around. I'm concerned it's going to become institutionalized. … Make candidates accountable for making government work. That should be a debate question: What are you going to do to make government work? You can't sit on your hands and say, "No, I want it 100% my way." I don't know how this evolved, but I find it irrational — you don't demand that in any other sphere of life. The country is now in a virtual standstill. We can't begin to measure the reverberation of all this legislative neglect five, six, or whatever years into the future.

What are our obligations to the country and to the people we represent? It's the coming up with effective solutions, sitting down and working with the issues. Sitting around table and sorting through the differences. You can never solve a problem without talking to people with whom you disagree. The United States Senate is predicated and based on consensus building. That was certainly the vision of the founding fathers. And if we abandon that approach, then we do it at the expense of the country and the issues that we need to address to put us back on track.