James Hill: “I rise to remind Members that if they decide to vote this bill down, that does not mean that there is no alternative…”

“I rise to remind Members that if they decide to vote this bill down, that does not mean that there is no alternative that they can vote for. A great deal of talk tonight has been made about bipartisanship, and I think that's very important. We need to have a bipartisan bill, and we had one. I introduced legislation last year that would create a new Ethics Committee consisting of former Members of Congress. Just a few weeks ago, my good friend from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp) made a similar recommendation with a few differences. His recommendation was to have six members who were former Members and six members who are current Members. I joined with Mr. Wamp, and now we have huge bipartisan support for a concept that merits a vote. This is a good bill, and I think if you go back to the Ninth District in Indiana, they will confirm that this is a good bill. And it is a bipartisan bill. Let's for once in this body act in a bipartisan way. But if you decide that you want to defeat this bill, there is an alternative. It is bipartisan. It is substantive, and it has subpoena powers.”