Steny Hoyer: “I will yield back to him. Mr. DeLAY. As I was saying before I was interrupted, and I appreciate the gentleman yielding…”

“I will yield back to him. Mr. DeLAY. As I was saying before I was interrupted, and I appreciate the gentleman yielding, the point is that both sides, in the old rules, both sides could shut the process down. The difference is, and it is a huge difference, the Members would be hanging out there and with no resolution. And the gentleman is incorrect and misrepresents the process. The process starts with the ranking member and the chairman looking at the facts as presented to them by the person charging the Member. And then they decide whether to submit a recommendation to the full committee to proceed further and what action should be taken. So the facts the gentleman is talking about start with the ranking member and the chairman. Then a recommendation is submitted, just like a DA would submit a recommendation to a grand jury. And this is the grand jury process, to the committee, and the committee makes a decision whether they go forward. Now, what happens in practice is, if that Member that has been charged receives from the committee that they are moving towards an investigative subcommittee, that is a huge hit on that Member, whether he is guilty or not. The press run with it and all kinds of things happen, as the gentleman perfectly knows. So that step to go to an investigative subcommittee is a very, very important step. And that is why the Speaker thought it was really important that a bipartisan vote be made in order to get to that step.…”