Victor Fazio: “Sometimes Congress works at a glacial pace, but other times Congress can move like lightning when we choose to do it.…”

“Sometimes Congress works at a glacial pace, but other times Congress can move like lightning when we choose to do it. Yesterday we passed a 1-day CR with lightning speed. It did not take any preliminary hearings. A few weeks ago, the Republican leadership decided to schedule a vote to lift the ban on assault weapons, passed just last year. They made that decision, announced it, and voted on it within 1 week. Lightning speed. Last week, we voted on a constitutional amendment to require a supermajority vote to make changes in the Tax Code. We did not even need a committee hearing on a constitutional amendment. Lightning speed. But when it comes to providing a working wage for Americans by raising the minimum wage, it gets glacially cold around here. Paralysis sets in. Our leadership says it is not their intention to schedule a vote on the minimum wage. We cannot move. The lightning speed tends to slow down to the point where we have a glacial pace. The Republicans have used parliamentary tactics, and now they are simply blocking a vote. Let us have one, up-or-down, on the minimum wage increase that the American people overwhelmingly support. Mr. Speaker, what is the Republican response to our request for a simple up-or-down vote on an increase in the minimum wage: They call it--incorrectly--an unfunded mandate and invoke parliamentary procedure to prevent a vote.”