Kevin Roberts: “if I could respond to the distinguished Senator. We had a Roberts-Stenholm amendment at that point while the Republicans…”

“if I could respond to the distinguished Senator. We had a Roberts-Stenholm amendment at that point while the Republicans were in the minority. Charlie Stenholm was a Democrat. As we went in he whispered: You might want to make this the Stenholm- Roberts amendment. I figured that out pretty fast, and we got our amendment made in order. As a younger member of the House at that particular time, I thought the Rules Committee was based on the merits of whether it was germane or pertinent, et cetera. It wasn't. It was just a complete rehash of what went on with the authorizing committee. One of the reasons I decided to come to the Senate was that you can offer an amendment at any time on any subject, unless it was something involving national security or whatever. I understand that. What we have now is a one-man rules committee. I deeply resent that. I feel sorry for the Senate, and I feel sorry for the Members who come here and are not able to have their amendments considered. One of the first things I did as the ranking member of the Senate agriculture committee last year was to promise that amendments could be brought to the floor. A lot of people on our side never had the opportunity to offer an amendment before. I said: You will have that opportunity if I can get this thing done. And we did. We opened it and it was one of the few bills that went under regular order, and we got things done. There is only one House.…”