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

When you work in the United States Senate, and you are around people of all different ideas and beliefs, you realize that what our Founding Fathers did that was so genius, is that they made the Senate the place where compromises are supposed to happen because of the makeup of the Senate.

Too many of my Senate colleagues overdid it. They stayed on too long - napping through committee hearings when they should have packed up and gone home.

My viewpoint is the Senate is dysfunctional.

When you have a Senate that is 50 Democrats and 49 Republicans and one independent, it's quite obvious that the only way we are going to get something done is if we work together.

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

Here's where I'm different from a senator. We pass continuing resolutions. We pass appropriations bills.

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

Senators, like everyone else, want to feel a part of this decision-making process. They want to feel included.

The danger of what's happening right now in terms of using reconciliation is, the purpose of the Senate is going to be defeated. And that is to bring consensus to big issues in this country so that we have a reasoned and thoughtful approach and that the American public buys into it.