John Joseph Moakley: “This is not just an esoteric procedural debate. I was insulted when the gentleman on the other said, ``Well, so what if…”

“This is not just an esoteric procedural debate. I was insulted when the gentleman on the other said, ``Well, so what if we're bringing up this bill delivered, one copy, to the Democratic side at 3:30 in the morning. They wouldn't have read it any way.'' Well, I was here a few years ago, and I read the catastrophic care bill before it came to the floor of the House. I was one of the few Democrats to vote against it, and a whole heck of a lot of people had to change their votes a year later because they cast their vote for a bad bill. This bill is a bad bill. I will not yield to the gentleman. This bill is a bad bill. But we are not going to be allowed time to read it. If we split this up among the 200 or so Democrats here, we would have a hard time getting through it in the time allotted. We are going to vote on this bill within the next three hours. Do my colleagues know why? Because it is going to make prime time news. That is why we are going to vote on it. This is an Alice in Wonderland budget process. We are going to get to the balanced budget by first increasing the deficit with retroactive tax cuts. It is slanted very much toward the wealthy people and the largest corporations in America.”