Maxwell Frost: “Mr. Speaker, the Democratic members of the Committee on Rules support this rule. We do, however, share a concern about…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Democratic members of the Committee on Rules support this rule. We do, however, share a concern about the provisions of the rule, and it is the same concern we had last year. The rule allows only for consideration of those amendments to the bill which have been preprinted in the Congressional Record prior to consideration of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, our concern with this requirement to preprint amendment centers around the fact that this is not a particularly controversial bill. Consequently, we are not convinced that the preprinting requirement is necessary. We understand that preprinting may ensure that debate on this legislation does not inadvertently disclose classified materials. The ranking minority member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has no objection to the inclusion of the requirement in the rule. But the Democratic members of the Committee on Rules are concerned that a precedent has now been established with regard to the construction of the rule for the consideration of this legislation.”