Porter Goss: “As most Members know, this rule is the product of an emergency rules committee meeting held the day before the House…”

“As most Members know, this rule is the product of an emergency rules committee meeting held the day before the House adjourned for the Memorial Day recess. At that time, H.R. 1561 had been under consideration for almost 12 hours and a host of amendments were still pending-- amendments offered by Republicans and Democrats. Using past precedents on similar bills as our guide, we had hoped that the original allotment of 2 hours of general debate and 10 hours of open amendment process would be sufficient, if properly managed, to allow a full and free debate on all the major issues at play in this important foreign policy bill. Looking back at the rules granted for foreign aid authorizations during past Congresses, where 1 hour of general debate and amendment time caps of 8 to 10 hours were standard, we felt that our formula would be sufficient. Clearly we underestimated Members' interest in extending debate on several standard issues along the way. That's somewhat understandable, partially because we have so many new Members and these programs have not been properly reauthorized since 1985. So, when it became clear that more time would be needed on this bill, our leadership attempted to work out a compromise with the minority to allow the extension of debate by unanimous consent. Unfortunately, some Members of the minority were not interested in that type of bipartisan cooperation.”