Maxwell Frost: “Today Republican Members have the opportunity to begin to restore some integrity to the House of Representatives. All…”

“Today Republican Members have the opportunity to begin to restore some integrity to the House of Representatives. All they have to do is vote no on the important parliamentary procedure known as the previous question. If the previous question is defeated, I will amend the rule to allow the House to vote on my amendment to ensure that the Justice Department can never again be abused for partisan political purposes. I wish this were not necessary. But earlier this year Texas Republicans tried to treat the Justice Department as the enforcement arm of the Republican Party. And so it is vital to the integrity of the Justice Department that we force it to do what the Transportation Department has already done, institute what at least one newspaper has called the 'DeLay Rule' to protect it from future political misuse. To be clear, a 'no' vote on the previous question will not block the Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill. It will only allow the House to ensure Americans that Federal law enforcement belongs to the people and not to a political party.”