On the recordDecember 4, 2014
I continue to reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts has 2\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Florida has 8\1/4\ minutes remaining. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let me close by again asking my colleagues to vote against this closed rule--triple closed rule. It unfortunately has become a pattern in this Congress, the most closed Congress in the history of the United States of America. I would urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' as well because we are talking about a defense bill, but we are not allowed to have a debate or a vote on any of these wars that we are involved in. If we truly care about our troops, if we are truly living up to our constitutional responsibilities, we ought to have a debate and a vote. We ought not to duck it. We ought not to leave town without talking about these serious issues. On the issue of immigration, rather than this silly, petty, ugly, symbolic bill that is being brought to the floor, if my colleagues don't approve of the President's executive action, then help me defeat the previous question and we will bring up H.R. 15, the comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Senate passed in a bipartisan way, and we can get that job done and end all this nonsense and end all this rancor that we have seen unfold here in the House. We could do better than what is on display today.…
