On the recordDecember 21, 2017
I continue to reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, it is the Christmas season, so I do want to begin by thanking the gentleman from Georgia and the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee, Mr. Sessions, for always being so polite to me and to other Democrats on the committee. But I want to say, in all candor, that, in spite of that, we are disrespected each and every day when our ideas are shut out and, in turn, our constituents are disrespected. I represent the same number of people as the Speaker of the House, as any Republican and any other Democrat in this Chamber, and yet, routinely, we are told that our ideas are not welcome. I believe, Mr. Speaker, that every Member of this House, Democrats and Republicans alike, are entitled to basic respect. We have just gone through the most closed session in the history of our country, more than 58 closed rules in this session. Over 1,500 amendments, both Democratic and Republican amendments, were blocked. That is not what we were promised by the leadership of this House. We are disappointed with what we are dealing with today. We are disappointed with the inaction and lack of support for the CHIP program and the community health centers funding. We think that is inadequate. We are disappointed that more funding isn't provided to deal with the opioid crisis.…
