Steny Hoyer: “Mr. Speaker, on whatever side of the issue, we all ought to be against this legislation on the floor today. To the new…”

“Mr. Speaker, on whatever side of the issue, we all ought to be against this legislation on the floor today. To the new Members who come here, did they come here expecting to have no hearings, no consideration, no full debate on issues of consequence to hundreds of thousands and, yes, millions of Americans? Is that how we are going to run the House of Representatives? Is that the responsibility we owe in a democracy? The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) has been rolled on the Patients' Bill of Rights by his own leadership? Why do we come to the floor rolling us once again, and when I say 'us,' not the Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives, but the thousands of people who might just want to come here and tell us how they believe, what they think, what their perceptions are. ... That is not the way to legislate. Reject this legislation.”