Ronald Dellums: “I rise this morning in sadness and disappointment, but I also rise in resolute opposition to this rule. Earlier in the…”

“I rise this morning in sadness and disappointment, but I also rise in resolute opposition to this rule. Earlier in the course of this debate, one of my distinguished colleagues on this side of the aisle said ``In making your case, either argue the facts or argue the law or argue fairness.'' I choose to accept that challenge, Mr. Speaker, and accept the arduous responsibility of addressing all three of them. First, to the issue of facts. This rule says there shall be 10 hours of debate for the purposes of amendment. Mr. Speaker, there are 44 amendments printed in the Record. In looking at those 44 amendments, 26 of them are independent, nonduplicative amendments. We have 17 minutes per vote. If there is a vote on all 26 of those amendments, we arrive at a grand total of 7 hours and 22 minutes, leaving us 2 hours and 38 minutes, not 10 hours, for the purposes of debating 26 amendments, an average of 6 minutes per amendment for debate. Let us pull off the sham of what this is all about, Mr. Speaker. {time} 1330 Mr. Speaker, to the issue of law. This proposed law has enormous budget implications. If we are talking about star wars and a space-based system we can be talking about between $30 billion and in excess of $40 billion, no small amount. This has ABM ballistic missile defense treaty implications. We should always walk fragilely and cautiously whenever we speak to a treaty. The bill has enormous constitutional implications.”