Steny Hoyer: “Although I am not now on the Appropriations Committee, you are correct, I served there for 25 years. I am on leave. I…”

“Although I am not now on the Appropriations Committee, you are correct, I served there for 25 years. I am on leave. I have no expectation of going back soon, I hope. In any event, the gentleman is correct. As you know, the bill we are talking about is probably, as we discussed on the floor, one of, if not the most important bill that we might consider this year on funding our troops, supporting our troops in Iraq, and dealing with the policy that we are pursuing in Iraq. Obviously there is a broad spectrum of views on that. Just as obviously, if you had some bills that in many instances come with an open rule, very frankly, I don't know about your experience, but our experience has been that there are a wide range of views. It may well be that we will solicit a request for possible amendments and make decisions on them, because this is, to some degree, as you know, not a straight appropriations bill in the sense that this is where the money is, in or out, up or down. This is a consideration of policy and authorizing bills.”