Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. I am proud to be the newest member of the House Rules Committee. When I expressed my desire to join the committee to the minority leader, I shared my hope that I could do my part to ensure the committee would allow the House to work its will in an open way. Unfortunately, the rule that we are bringing to the floor does not meet that standard. For that reason, I rise in opposition. The rule we consider this afternoon is a combined rule for H.R. 3144, legislation to delay and derail management practices at the Federal Columbia River Power System in the Pacific Northwest, and H.R. 4, the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act. There is no reason for the House to take up these items in a combined rule. We have plenty of time to give each bill a full, robust debate, and plenty of time to allow the House an opportunity to vote on some of the 138 amendments filed to these bills that were not made in order under this rule. Mr. Speaker, the House appears to be in a rush to leave here every single week. Last week, we only had three voting days, and with this combined rule, who knows how long we will be here this week. Perhaps we could use some of this extra time to take up a number of issues which Americans have been asking for.…”