On the recordJuly 6, 2016
I want to begin at the end of the Reading Clerk's recitation of the rule. It makes in order that at any time on July 7 or 8 the Speaker can entertain motions to suspend the rules and bring up the FAA bill. In addition to serving on the Rules Committee, I serve on the Transportation Committee. We have been working very hard with the Senate to try to bring an FAA extension to a conclusion. We are very close to getting that done. But without the passage of this rule, we would not be able to consider that expeditiously later in the week. So among the many reasons to support the rule today, I would like to encourage my friends who care about transportation and who care about the Federal Aviation Administration during this holiday season to support the rule on those merits alone. But the primary purpose of the rule today, Mr. Speaker, is to bring up H.R. 4361. It is a bill designed to make some relatively minor, but important, changes to the way we interact with Federal Government employees. For example, Mr. Speaker, it ought to go without saying that focusing on pornography in the workplace during your daily activities should be prohibited. I would have guessed that it was. It certainly is in my office, but that commonsense provision is contained in this bill. It extends the probationary period, Mr. Speaker. As you know, when you get involved as a Federal Government employee, the stereotypical answer is that you can never be fired.…
