Rob Woodall: “I thank my friend for his kind comments. I know that Mr. Walz and Ms. Slaughter have been working for years and years on…”

“I thank my friend for his kind comments. I know that Mr. Walz and Ms. Slaughter have been working for years and years on this proposal. And again, I have some issues with this proposal. I do believe that there are some better options out there. But I must speak up on behalf of the leadership in this House. For Congress after Congress after Congress, Ms. Slaughter labored to bring this bill to the floor, labored to bring this bill to the floor to no avail, to no avail, through 4 years of democratically controlled Congresses--folks who have the deepest respect and admiration for the gentlelady and her legislation--failed to bring this legislation to the floor. And the rule we have here today does. It does. It's not the only way to bring this legislation to the floor. It's not even a requirement that the legislation come to the floor in this way. But what this rule does is it provides the first opportunity that this Congress has had to vote on the STOCK Act. Madam Speaker, that's not a topic for the gnashing of teeth. That's a topic for the clapping of hands. If you believe in this bill, if you believe, as Mr. Walz said, that this may not be the end-all/be-all, but it's a step in that direction, if we can move a little today and a little tomorrow and a little beyond that to ultimately get to where we need to be, this is a step in the right direction.…”