Norman Mineta: “One of the things that does bother me--there are two things, I guess I should say. First of all, that there were no…”

“One of the things that does bother me--there are two things, I guess I should say. First of all, that there were no hearings at the Rules Committee on this issue. And, second, our distinguished majority leader says that this is a preview of the vigorous debate that would occur on the floor on Monday. The problem, I think, is that there is a public interest in this issue as well, and the public will not have an opportunity to make their views known on this, because the public cannot speak here on the floor, and that is why, and when I first heard about this, I then asked the Chair of the Committee on Rules to hold a hearing on this, because I think, as has already been clearly pointed out, the rule has always existed. It has always been worked out on a mutual-consent basis with the minority, but this eliminates totally the ability to have that, either the waiver and the vote of the committee to protect a minority status.”