Steny Hoyer: “this is a 52-page bill. We got it at 4 o'clock this afternoon. Debate started shortly after 6:00. This is a sham. Now, I…”

“this is a 52-page bill. We got it at 4 o'clock this afternoon. Debate started shortly after 6:00. This is a sham. Now, I could hopefully try to follow the introduction of my friend, the gentleman from Connecticut, of being eloquent, but let me read from the New York Times. I tell my friend, the gentleman from Delaware, the bills that the gentleman from Georgia, (Mr. Gingrich) are sponsoring are either anemic, irrelevant, or tied to an antiunion provision repugnant to most Democrats. With a two-thirds approval requirement, they cannot pass. Of course, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrich) does not care if his own fraudulent legislation wins or loses. All he seeks is the chance to say the House considered campaign finance reform and was unable to pass a bill. They end their editorial with this, ``It is a cynical maneuver that will come back to haunt Mr. Gingrich and any House Member who supports it.'' I tell my friend, the gentleman from Delaware, for whom I have great respect, he intones that this is the last opportunity. Why, my friend, is this the last opportunity? Why would the power of the majority that has been exercised so effectively to push through what it wants, why I ask my friend, the gentleman from Delaware, can the Speaker of the House not say to the American public I am going to allow a bill on this floor to be fully debated, to be amended, and to be discussed in the presence of the American public, perhaps I might even suggest for 2 hours.…”