Steny Hoyer: “I certainly reassure you we are moving in that direction, and I would hope that would be the case. I hope the gentleman…”

“I certainly reassure you we are moving in that direction, and I would hope that would be the case. I hope the gentleman will take this as a very friendly observation that in this case, the gentleman wouldn't take apparently yes for an answer. We were going to give him an amendment. As you know, the day before we had been bitterly criticized for not giving amendments. I was not there and I did not participate in this decision, but the committee was confronted with wanting to be in a position to give an amendment. Then when they were told the gentleman didn't want the amendment, they in effect took yes for an answer. The gentleman did not. I understand that. We want to accommodate that. You are absolutely right. If a Member doesn't want to offer the amendment, he didn't have to offer the amendment, he did not offer the amendment. Nobody has been forced to offer an amendment. He was given the opportunity to do so. But we do understand that Members make decisions that maybe that is not what I want to do, and I would like to withdraw it. Certainly I hope we will accommodate Members in the future.”