Marty Walsh: “Mr. Speaker, I would like to first of all rise in strong support of this rule and commend our chairman, the gentleman…”

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to first of all rise in strong support of this rule and commend our chairman, the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Skeen], who has worked very, very closely with our ranking minority member, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Durbin], on this bill all the way along. The same sense of fairness that the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Durbin] presented last year, the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Skeen] has reciprocated, and we have all worked very closely on this together. Let me just say, I hope we can pass this rule today. I think it is a good rule. It provides for full and open discussion. It is an open rule. I do not think they get any better than that. Let me just suggest, regarding this amendment that I had offered in the subcommittee and full committee which was accepted, that if there is indeed a compromise worked out, that would be fine. But I want to make sure that the compromise does not gut the amendment. I think it is very important to show that the subcommittee and the full committee support this amendment for good reasons, because this legislation, the standards that have been proposed by the Secretary will in fact change the way meat is inspected.”