Barney Frank: “I was unclear in my own mind which was worse, the terrible procedural abuse of this resolution or the serious…”

“I was unclear in my own mind which was worse, the terrible procedural abuse of this resolution or the serious substantive flaw, but I then realize they come together because it is procedurally outrageous so as to protect a substantive grave error. First of all, it is a major piece of legislation, and it's not amendable, just like the health care bill. You may remember, Mr. Speaker, what people on the Republican side said about open rules. It will be a fond memory but apparently not a reality. We have a very important piece of legislation subject to no amendment. I chaired a committee for 4 years and never would I have brought a bill to the floor with such an impact and had no amendments in order whatsoever. But I understand why they don't want an amendment, because it would reveal the grave flaw. This says reduce non-security spending to the level of 2008. In other words, exempt about half of discretionary spending. All security, I assume they mean military spending. Now we have a war and we have to defend the people who we put out there. I have to say those who talk about shutting the government down--I don't know what they are going to tell the people in Afghanistan who are out there being shot at--but we have got tens of billions that we are spending subsidizing our wealthy allies in Europe and Asia. The argument that you exempt military spending from budgetary discipline is one of the reasons we are in the terrible hole we are in.”