Alcee Hastings: “I am not that generous because among the things that I believe that are likely to happen is that we are going to see…”

“I am not that generous because among the things that I believe that are likely to happen is that we are going to see substantive legislation here on the floor of the House under the suspension calendar. And when that happens that means it did not come to the Committee on Rules. Members did not have an opportunity to amend it. When it is here on the House floor they each have 20 minutes per side and one can bring the most major matter; for example, we were up last night, as has been pointed out, from 12:50 until 5:15 this morning in the Committee on Rules. That is all right, but would the Members believe that under this particular rule that is coming in the middle of a session that what we could also do is bring this same Medicare measure up if we wanted to under the majority provision? I cannot say it too well, but I said to the chairman of the committee, why are we doing this in the middle of the night?”