John Joseph Moakley: “Mr. Speaker, some events took place in this very building last night regarding terrorism, and they are not over yet. A…”

“Mr. Speaker, some events took place in this very building last night regarding terrorism, and they are not over yet. A lot of Members probably do not realize it but at midnight last night, under cover of darkness, there were some terrorist-related activities going on in the House of Representatives. But it was not what you think, Mr. Speaker, it was down in Speaker Gingrich's office at which a plan was hatched finally to bring up the antiterrorism bill without allowing any Democratic participation whatsoever. Now there were a few of us who suspected that this type of activity might be going on at the hour when most Members were sleeping. I asked my good friend the chairman of the Rules Committee three times if the antiterrorism bill was going to come up. Twice he assured me the answer was 'no' and the last time he said 'maybe.' Now, I am not blaming my chairman because he was not the motivating force on this bill. And, Mr. Speaker, at midnight, only a handful of Members were still here. Most people had gone home after the last vote at 10:32 p.m. last night--before anyone had an inkling that the terrorism bill would be unleashed. And this is not a small, unimportant bill.…”