Maxwell Frost: “Mr. Speaker, this is the seventh time in 7 years that the House has considered this same constitutional amendment. We…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is the seventh time in 7 years that the House has considered this same constitutional amendment. We appear to have some slower learners on the other side of the aisle. This is an amendment that would require a two-thirds majority to pass any provision that raises revenue for the government. The House has rejected it six times before, and I hope today will mark its seventh consecutive failure. Before we get into a debate Members have heard before, I want to begin by putting it in context. Late last week the President finally agreed to make homeland security a Cabinet-level priority, something Democrats have been pushing for months, and called on Congress to get to work creating an entirely new structure. It is a huge job, one that raises a lot of questions and will take a lot of work. Meanwhile, prescription drug prices are still sky high nearly 2 years after many Republicans got elected promising to do something about it; and still there is no credible Republican plan to help senior citizens who cannot afford their pharmaceutical bills. There is no question that the House has a tremendous amount of important work left to do this year, including all 13 appropriations bills, none of which has been considered yet. Instead of addressing these and other important issues this week, Republican leaders are once again wasting the House's time on a gimmick they call the Tax Limitation Constitutional Amendment.”