John Joseph Moakley: “First of all, the bills that my friend speaks of were single-purpose bills. This is a general bill that would allow…”

“First of all, the bills that my friend speaks of were single-purpose bills. This is a general bill that would allow anything to happen. Those were specific reasons to waive the two-thirds rule, but anything could be waived under this. Yes, last night, we did not want to present an obstacle by raising any ruckus in the Committee on Rules, but that does not mean that we voted in favor of it; we just did not raise any opposition. The fact is we had this rule for a purpose. The rule was not just created last night in the Committee on Rules, it is there as a management tool. One of our responsibilities in the Committee on Rules is to manage these bills primarily today so that we can keep the Government operating, which is a concern of everybody in this Chamber.”