John Joseph Moakley: “Mr. Speaker, this is the way the House is supposed to work; this is a majority rule institution. The purpose of the…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is the way the House is supposed to work; this is a majority rule institution. The purpose of the discharge rule, the purpose of all the rules and traditions of the House, is to guarantee that a determined majority will prevail. If a majority of the House wishes to consider this constitutional amendment, they can and they will. But, Mr. Speaker, I cannot support this particular rule. The division of time is unfair, the restriction on amendments is ill-considered and other elements of the rule are unjustified. Look at the amendments. This is the same rule as was discharged last Congress. It makes in order four substitutes to be offered by the same four Members or their designees as in the last Congress and in the same order as before: Mr. Kyl, Mr. Barton, Mr. Brooks and then Mr. Stenholm. Mr. Speaker, there are more than 100 new Members. Why do they not get a shot? We should not make available only the same four slots until we at least ask whether the freshmen or other Members have some new ideas. Representative Margolies-Mezvinsky wants to offer an amendment; this rule denies her the opportunity.”