Frank Riggs: “I just felt compelled to come down to the well one more time and clarify for our listeners, and especially, of course…”

“I just felt compelled to come down to the well one more time and clarify for our listeners, and especially, of course, for our colleagues who will be making a decision on the rule here momentarily, just, again, the background behind my appearance before the Committee on Rules to offer my amendment to add an additional $38 million for funding for the Women, Infants, and Children Program during the current fiscal year, and why that was made self-executing under the rule. I want people to understand, and I cannot believe the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur] is actually suggesting that the chairman of an authorizing subcommittee cannot engage constructively with an issue like that. What kind of precedent would that create in the House? What kind of sour grapes have we heard down here? There is a majority party, there is a minority party. I suspect if the gentlewoman, who has served in the Congress for a number of years, goes back and searches her memory she might just recall a precedent when the Democrat Party as the majority party allowed a Member of the majority party who demonstrated an interest in this issue to take the lead. That was not intended to exclude other parties. We made an effort. We reached out to the gentlewoman. We reached out to the gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. Roukema] and the gentleman from New York [Mr. Quinn] as well to make our efforts bipartisan.”