Jane Harman: “I commend the gentleman for yielding me this time and for his service both on the Rules Committee and on the…”

“I commend the gentleman for yielding me this time and for his service both on the Rules Committee and on the Intelligence Committee, and I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam) as well for his comments earlier in this debate. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the previous question so that we can have a debate on the Waxman amendment. Yesterday, we had an open rule for the Defense Appropriations Act which funds the intelligence community. I fail to see why we cannot have an open rule for the authorization bill for those same intelligence programs. I also think it is sad that the leadership scheduled consideration of this authorization bill after our vote on the appropriations bill. This makes little sense and erodes our ability to establish clear guidance for how money will be spent. Mr. Speaker, this rule should have made in order all of the amendments that were offered. Only 10 amendments were submitted to the Rules Committee. Of those, nine were offered by Democrats, and of those nine, only one was made in order. Each amendment was responsible. Each deserves full consideration on the House floor. Members on both sides of the aisle should have an opportunity to debate the important issues raised by these amendments, but as a result of this unnecessarily restrictive rule, neither Republicans nor Democrats will have that opportunity. Mr.…”