Darrell Issa: “it is not good to talk process in the House of Representatives. I keep hearing that. But when the process that you are…”

“it is not good to talk process in the House of Representatives. I keep hearing that. But when the process that you are talking about is the execution of our right in a democratic society to speak and make a difference, then it is necessary to speak on process. Mr. Speaker, this week we will spend 4 days on the Iraq resolution. I say ``the'' Iraq resolution because it has already been crafted by Speaker Pelosi; it already is a final product. The only thing left to do is in fact to vote on it because we will not be allowed to amend it; the rule will be a closed rule. Democracy and speech and debate will not in fact change anything. The final vote will be exactly at the end of the week where it was at the beginning. That is wrong. Republicans never did that when we held the Speaker's gavel. Democrats should not do that as they hold the Speaker's gavel. The right to amend and the right to debate that leads to a better bill is a right of this democracy, and this body has been reduced by the taking of that right.”