On the recordJuly 13, 2011
I thank the gentleman. I rise today as a member of the Rules Committee. Mr. Speaker, for folks who don't follow exactly what the Rules Committee does, the Rules Committee is that committee that is the very last committee to touch any piece of legislation that comes to the floor; and it is the responsibility of the Rules Committee to decide what kind of choices we will be able to make about the bill once it gets to the floor. Now, there was a time in this House, Mr. Speaker, where what that meant was that the Rules Committee closed that process down, didn't allow any other options, any other opinions, no amendments at all, sent a bill to the floor and said take it or leave it. But, Mr. Speaker, under the leadership of Chairman Dreier on the Rules Committee and under the leadership of the Speaker of the House, that process has begun to change. Now, it is not perfect, but it has begun to change. I rise in support of a rule today where the Rules Committee asked all 435 Members of this House, when it comes to the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, asked all 435 members of this House: What would you like to see changed about this bill? How would you like to see this bill improved? What would you like done differently in this piece of legislation? As you know, Mr. Speaker, yesterday we had that exact same process on the flood insurance program. Not only did we allow lots of amendments to the flood insurance program; we allowed an amendment to eliminate the program altogether.…
