Political Quotes

“The amendment is going to prioritize the work that we all know America wants us to do. I went through some of those items earlier: work for the chronically ill, for our seniors; folks struggling with prescription medications; folks who were concerned about congestion; folks--go right on down the list of all the priorities that we all hear from our constituents on a regular basis. If we defeat the previous question, it will amend the rule to allow an opportunity to move forward on these priority issues. I don't mean priority from a Republican perspective; I don't mean priority from a Democrat perspective. I mean priority from an American perspective. I serve on the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress here, Mr. Speaker. In fact, we just had a hearing upstairs in the Rules Committee, and it is a different dynamic. Mr. DeSaulnier and I serve on a committee of 13 people. There are no time limits on discussion in our committee. That committee has a majoritarian tilt--nine members in the majority, four in the minority-- so you know where the vote is going to go. But because it is a small committee, because it allows for open debate, it creates a relationship among the members that isn't possible, say, for the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on which I sit, that has more than 70 members on it.…”