John Joseph Moakley: “Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to stand on the House floor today to publicly thank my good friend, the…”

“Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to stand on the House floor today to publicly thank my good friend, the gentleman from New York, Mr. Jerry Solomon. Democrats were upset to learn yesterday that the Republican leadership was going to deny the Democrats on the Commerce Committee their right to have 3 days to file their views. But Jerry Solomon came to our rescue. He talked to his leadership and convinced them to change the schedule so that Democrats on the Commerce Committee will be given time to file their views. That's right. Thanks to Jerry Solomon we are taking up the rule today, but we will take up the bill tomorrow and Democrats will have the right to voice their opinion just as Republicans did when they were in the minority. Unfortunately, I cannot say Democrats are as happy with this rule as we were with Jerry Solomon yesterday. Today, we are discussing a closed rule on a simple, noncontroversial bill that anyone and everyone should be allowed to amend if they see fit. But for some reason Republicans seem to have gotten in the habit of breaking promises and socking it to American families.”