John Joseph Moakley: “Mr. Speaker, last week things were looking pretty good around here. Last week the Republican members of the Committee on…”

“Mr. Speaker, last week things were looking pretty good around here. Last week the Republican members of the Committee on the Budget showed the world their proposed budget. They gave people plenty of time to read it, and they were not ashamed of it. Last night, all that changed. Last night, or this morning, at 2:00 a.m. this morning, the real Republican budget came out. But unless one is a member of the Committee on Rules, they did not see the Republican budget until 2:00 this morning, just hours before its coming up for a vote. Mr. Speaker, these days the only creatures that stir in the middle of the night, long after the sun goes down, are vampires and members of the Committee on Rules. Eighty percent of the members' meetings on the Committee on Rules do not start until the lights have to be turned on, and from the looks of some of these bills, Mr. Speaker, I could see why. They read a lot better in the dark. This budget does nothing to save Social Security or Medicare or help seniors with the Medicare prescription drug plan.”