John Joseph Moakley: “Mr. Speaker, this is the second rule we have granted for this bill. The first time around we said 10 hours was not…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is the second rule we have granted for this bill. The first time around we said 10 hours was not enough. We said that the drop dead time was a lousy idea, and no one believed us. Now, here we are again, 2 weeks later, taking up rule No. 2 that still will not do the job. There are still at least 99 preprinted amendments that we cannot possibly finish in 6 hours. The floor schedule for this week is unusually light. There is no reason to shut down the amendment process, particularly when we are considering an issue as important as this one. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this rule. We have plenty of time. Let us open up this rule and give members a chance to fix this bill.”