Mike Levin: “This is the third bill in a row where there has been talk again about bipartisanship, and I suppose that is supposed to…”

“This is the third bill in a row where there has been talk again about bipartisanship, and I suppose that is supposed to be the mantra of the day. As I said earlier on those two bills, the problem in this institution has been bipartisanship if it suited the majority and they felt we would agree with their proposal. But when it comes to issues where there is some legitimate disagreement or different points of view, that bipartisanship does not prevail. Mr. Speaker, on this issue there was a bipartisan effort to address the FSC issue. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Crane), who is on the floor; the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo); the gentleman from New York Mr. Rangel; and I had a bipartisan proposal. And here we are many, many months later. All that this House has done is to pass a bill that really was not a bipartisan bill, and many of us had many objections to it. So there we had a wonderful chance to be bipartisan to address a problem in our tax structure and to do it to try to help manufacturing in this country. Instead, that opportunity was squandered; and here we are many, many months later without a bill that will replace FSC.”