Whereas if the Majority Party pretty much calls the shots of what gets on the floor. So theres only so much you can do on the floor if you do not like somebody. Of course, you have the chamber quorum, but even if you do not like somebody you are supposed to call them nice things. My distinguished colleague, for example, instead of you rotten s. O. B. But, that is part of parliamentary procedure and parliamentary style. Brian what do they do in the senate . Don well, we are still influenced by Thomas Jefferson who wrote the manual of parliamentary procedure to really cool down the tempers that would be there for any legislative issues. Members are not to address each other by name. They are not to criticize another persons state or question their motives, and they are not to read a newspaper while another person is speaking. The senate has a high sense of decorum. I remember senator robert byrd who epitomized the sense of decorah, decorum, and when he was mad at somebody, he would pour on the compliments to the point that person was being embarrassed about them. The complete opposite of what he was thinking. He never broke his character of what a senator was supposed to do. Brian we had don ritchie and ray smock to join us. To talk about history of the u. S. House and the u. S. Senate. Don ritchie retired as the historian and United States of the United States senate. And, ray smock retired as the historian in 1995 of the house. He is now at the robert c. Byrd center. Lets go to this clip of a member of congress no longer alive, out of congress, third time in prison. Here is what he used to sound like on the floor. [video clip] baseball will eliminate two teams. Some surprise. Tickets average 50 bucks. A program is 10. Popcorn is five dollars and parking is 20 and a hot dog and a beer cost about 1012 dollars in most stadiums. Beam me up. The umpire said play ball, not monopoly. When a family of four needs a second mortgage to see a baseball game and america, it does not take dr. Ruth to explain to Major League Baseball what has gone wrong i yield back what is left of americas great pastime after the greatest world series perhaps in our history. Brian explain Jim Traficant. [laughter] ray Jim Traficant is what you would call a colorful character. He was flamboyant and sarcastic and also for the underdog and in this case in this clip and he is saying baseball costs too much and the average family cannot go see it. He made references to beam me up. He said that in almost every one of his little speeches like this. These are the one minute speeches where he gets to rant and rave, like all members do, about whatever subject they want to talk about. His reference to star trek, beam me up, scottie, he used as his brand when something was so outrageous to him. He would say, beam me up scotty. Brian what kind of discipline do they use for somebody they do not like when somebody uses though floor like this . Don if members break the rules and Say Something beyond decorum, you can be forced to sit down and not take part in the debates. That is a very rare occasion. In fact, what usually happens is, sometimes we get new senators coming in and especially from the house and they are used to the roughandtumble of it all. Veteran senators from both parties will often take the junior senators the side and coach them on what a senator is supposed to be like. How a senator supposed to dress and act. And they realize it is an important part of the institution. Going back to the 1950s a senator from vermont who came in and he was giving a speech. Ralph flanders. He was giving a speech as a democratic leader at the time made a comment about what a great young promising representative he was going to be. This was a democratic leader saying something nice about a brandnew republican senator. And flanders said he was so taken by this he bowed to the senior senator after he finished his speech. When they walked away, the senator came over and said you do not do that. I was doing something thats part of a tradition, you do not mock the tradition. Flanders was very embarrassed. But then he realized he was getting a lesson from a Senior Member on how to act as a United States senator. And, there is not acculturation process that goes on a. Brian this was from 2010, a member of congress, very controversial, no longer there from new york. Lets watch. [video clip] great courage to wait until all members have already spoken and then stand up and wrap your arms around procedure. We see it in us in every day where members say we were all amendment but we are still a no. And then we stand up and only if we had a different process. You would vote yes. You vote in favor of something you think is the right thing. If you think it is the wrong thing, you vote no. We are following up i will not yield. The gentleman will not gets up and yells to what today people into thinking he is right. He is not going to intimidate people into believing he is right. He is wrong the gentleman is wrong the gentleman is proving comment for his comrade rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes. It is a shame a shame brian any comments . Don nobody could get more than outraged than anthony weiner. You have to yield if you have the floor. Somebody can ask you to yield. It is procedure you supposed to follow. You are addressed the chair and do not really talk to one another. Although they do. Here, he is in a shouting match. He is mad and he is reeling railing against the republicans. He did that fairly regularly. A number of members throughout history have had been more for more flamboyant when they have been on the floor. If you are there every day and watching this, you just say, anthony is being himself or Jim Traficant is being himself. And, sometimes they are funny. Sometimes you sort of enjoy the fireworks. It breaks up the monotony of routine business. In the end, it is just not good parliamentary procedure and you do not usually get anywhere with it. Don the house has been a more boisterous. Is a bigger body and passions arise. Sometimes fights on the floor and all sorts of things. The house also has a mace. These senate does not have it. It is a silver rod that the sergeant at arms put in the chamber. But, if a commotion should break out, the sergeant lifts up the mason as a symbol of the gritty of the house of representatives to cool things down. There was an occasion when a member was speaking and her time was up and she was ruled to have to stop. She was so impassioned about what she had to talk about, she kept on talking. The chair kept rapping the gavel. She kept talking. Somebody yelled, get the mace. So many new members did not realize what it was and they thought there were told to get a can of mace. That is not it they were looking for the sergeant of arms to hold up the mace to show it it is a serious legislative body, and people have to behave. Brian 21 years ago, the following was given. This is senator bob smith from new hampshire. I wonder what each of your comments might be when you hear what he had to say then. [video clip] this is a very simple underlying commitment and will prohibit to any School System receiving funds under the elementary and secondary education act from implementing any School Program that encourages homosexuality. It merely prevents taxpayerfunded advocacy of the homosexual lifestyle. That is the question here. Should federal tax dollars in this bill be spent to advocate and encourage the homosexual lifestyle in the curriculum of Public Schools in this country . Brian he was in the senate from 1992 until 2003. What is your reaction . Don on the political side of it, they have more ability than the house. The house controls the process of how many members there are. Senators through history are able to add an amendment on to anything. In this case, it was an amendment is that has something to do with the bill and in many cases it can be different. It is also an issue on changing social perspectives. Before bob smith, it would be jesse helms who would have been introducing very similar types of resolutions. It also suggests how much has changed over time. You cannot imagine a member of the senate today introducing an amendment like that. Ray the issue that senator smith was talking about, amazing when you look back at that and think it was 17 years ago and how far we have come on that issue politically, both parties. It is still an issue and the current election, it is hardly an issue it was. It is never going to be framed the way it was and the way he spoke about it in 1998. Brian what is the speech and debate clause . In other words, what can you say on the floor of the senate you cannot say out in the world . Ray members of congress have the ability to say what they think without being arrested and that goes back to the days of the king and of the parliament. The king could have somebody imprisoned for saying something they objected to. But you have complete freedom to speak. You do not defame anybody or libel anybody but if you put it into your newsletter or go on television and say it, as a member of congress, you are liable and you can be sued. We had a case in which a senator of wisconsin used to give the Golden Fleece award to the person who basically bilked the government for the most amount of money. And he found some scientists at the National Institute of health who he thought had done this and identified them. When he said it on the floor, he was totally free under the speech and debate clause. But, he put in its newsletter. The Supreme Court said you are liable for putting it in your newsletter. The senator was sued. The scientists collected because of that libel. Brian do you remember any time on the house floor when somebody was using it, because they were obviously protected . Ray whatever they say is protected. I cannot think of any incident where anything particularly outrageous said was protected. The house floor and the senate floor are where america has its debate and where all of the voices are supposed to come together. They are not always going to be on the same page. That is part of the greatness of the place, that someone gets up and says something and something that could be totally outrageous and somebody else will get up and offer a corrective, or in alternative position. And usually, they do it with a great decorum and when they do not, the fireworks fly and you have to get out the mace. Brian what are the rules today all about the congressional record and editing your comments from the floor . Ray yes. Brian do you have to identify that you edited them . Ray there are lots of different ways the congressional record, not only what is said on the floor of the house but material that can be entered in an extraneous manner. In other words, you can added add it later. And that usually shows up in a different type of face in the record and shows up in a session called extension of remarks where you did not say it on the floor, but you want to add something. Sometimes you make reference to an article in the New York Times and you wont read it on the floor but add to the record. The record is more complete than of what is said on the floor. You do have the right to edit mistakes or oversights or make corrections. Don it has been going on for a long time. Henry clay and Daniel Webster edited their remarks before they went into the records. It smooths out. Sometimes because they misspoke during the debate. In the 19 century when members thought fought duels against each other, the leading insult was an apology for you is that saved you from having to go to deleting insults was an apology and saved you from having to go to the dueling grounds with that person. In an exchange between henry clay and calhoun, calhoun was furious the next day that clay had said something. Clay said it has been removed. In other words, it does not exist anymore as far as we are concerned. Ray once television came in the question then, what is the record . If the Television Camera shows you saying one thing on the videotape and at the record shows you saying something else, which is the record . I remember having conversations since i was involved in some of the earlier debates and discussions about when i first got there the house was not saving the broadcast, they were recycling them after 60 days thinking they were only newsworthy for 60 days. I said what about history . What about the fact you may have somebody on the floor like an Abraham Lincoln . Why are you erasing history . When lincoln was a congressman wouldnt it be great if we had a record of his speech against the war . It would be priceless. Brian this is, a senator from illinois until 1969. This is a little clip from one of his weekly presentations that he would send back to the television stations. What rock this up is when you mentioned Abraham Lincoln. Watch this. [video clip] i sometimes think my desk is piled high. [indiscernible] with articles covering every subject under the sun. For sure, the problems of the country are complex. And they in all the corners of the earth. [indiscernible] all this literature, all these papers. Somehow you have put in the plainest terms and then finding the very simple answers. Strange. We seem to look for the complicated answers. For the heroes and the problems of mankind. [indiscernible] perhaps we would be benefited by the way you without the benefit of articles and books expositions and essays showing all manner of attitude. All manners of the day. Brian in case you missed it, he was talking to a statue of Abraham Lincoln. What do you think . He was from illinois as was Abraham Lincoln. He was famous for having said that politicians had to get right with lincoln. Especially republicans from the midwest. Abraham lincoln was the model for their party. This is a folksy way of talking about Current Issues and connecting to the past. He was doing this in a recording studio. Many senators over time have done tv programs or little clippings that were broadcast back to their states. It was a way of trying to communicate with the citizens and show you can talk with their language and discuss things that would be important to them. And in this case, to show them that Everett Dirksen and lincoln were close enough to have a conversation on television. Brian what was your reaction . Ray i love Everett Dirksen number one. When i originally came from illinois, he was my congressman. The first time i visited the capital to get a pass to visit the gallery and the senate and go to the Senators Office and got that. So i loved to listen to his , voice for he was one of the great orators. He was a real smooth talker. And there was a story that george told, the great photographer for the New York Times, about a group that came to visit with Everett Dirksen. He was on the floor of the senate and came out. In his style which i cannot imitate but i will do a semiimitation. He said, ladies, i have phone thrown off the mantle of the cloak of the senate to come out here to speak with you. What is it that you could possibly have in your mind that i can help you with . One of the ladies popped up and said, nothing, senator, we just want to hear you talk. [laughter] brian who else can you think of that people want to hear talk . Don there have been some great orators in the senate history. When Daniel Webster, sometime the entire house would go to the senate to hear him speak. When Arthur Vanderburgh spoke on foreign policy, everybody came to the chamber. The press gallery would be full. In recent times, that kind of oratory has disappeared. It is not the sort of televisionfriendly oratory. But i loved to hear Daniel Patrick moynihan speak. He was always a bit unpredictable and amusing and erudite. Oratory is not the same as it was a century ago. Brian in 1994, a senator and he was a republican from north carolina. A couple reasons for running this, one is you can hear the southern accent and going back to the speech and debate clause, he is talking about people specifically. Lets this is during the bill clinton years. [video clip] i did not say that Patsy Thompson use cocaine. I did say very clearly she had a close business relationship with a man who used cocaine extensively. I said that she would not assure members of the house that the people monitoring the white house drug testing, including herself, worked among the especially tested group of white house employees with the history of drug use. Given that fact, and given her past relationship with mr. Lasseter, i still believe that the president should certify that and no one in charge of that the Drug Testing Program has a history of a drug problems themselves. Brian mr. Smock . Ray those were ugly times. The whole clinton impeachment. The that was just and that was in 1994. And, that was the year the republicans finally took over control of the house. In the election of 1994, a lot of i remember the 1990s as pretty contentious times and of course, growing business that had plagued the clintons going all the way back to arkansas. There was a relentless effort to smear them or what was going on in the white house. Don i was listening to him speaking and thinking that when i first came to the senate before cspan was there. We used to have what was called a squawk box. A little green box on your desk a you could hear what was going on, like a radio. Without an announcer telling you who was speaking and you had to guess at all times who was speaking. I was always thankful for senators like Lauch Faircloth because you could identify him. I could identify strong arm and Strom Thurmond or others because they had strong accents. Then the middle of the country senators who all sounded alike and you sat at thinking, who is that . South dako