On the recordNovember 3, 2015
House Resolution 507 is a structured rule for the consideration of H.R. 22. It provides an hour of general debate, and it makes in order 29 amendments. Now, you might say, Mr. Speaker, that 29 amendments seems like that ought to be the end of the conversation. But my friend from Massachusetts and I are not done with 29 amendments. There have been well over 250 amendments submitted for this legislation. We have included 29 in this base text, and we are going to come back and include more. This is the very first rule to come out of Paul Ryan, Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives. When Speaker Ryan was speaking to the House last week, when he took the Speaker's gavel into his hands, he said, ``We need to let every Member contribute--not once they have earned their stripes, but right now.'' He said, ``I come at this job as a two-time committee chair. The committees should retake the lead in drafting all major legislation. If you know the issue, you should write the bill. We must open up the process. Let people participate. In other words, we need to return to regular order.'' Mr. Speaker, I won't tell it to you any way but straight. I am not sure what folks mean when they say a return to regular order in this House. I love a free and spirited debate process. We are going to go deep into the night tonight, deep into the night tomorrow night, and well into the late hours on Thursday.…
