Political Quotes

“first I wanted to correct a mistake which I made last night. I referred to prior rules which prohibited at the objection of any one Member the meeting of a committee while the 5-minute rule was in process. I had not mentioned, in fact I was incorrect in not mentioning, that had been changed in the last Congress. I want to correct that error of mine. But that does not change my unhappiness with this procedure, particularly now that proxy voting has been done away with. I face a situation where as a member of the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, I may be asked to be at a hearing and perhaps a markup on the question of guaranteeing the Mexican debt and pushing for the kind of social and taxpayer safeguards I think are important. As a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, I want to be on the floor fully to participate in the balanced budget amendment. What we are facing is an artificial deadline made as part of a campaign approach, and it is one thing to as part of a campaign approach, and it is one thing to try and meet that. It is quite another to degrade the legislative process to meet this arbitrary deadline. I hope the other side will stop doing that.”