Steny Hoyer: “I rise, unfortunately, in opposition to this rule. I have been quoted numerous times on this floor as saying that this…”

“I rise, unfortunately, in opposition to this rule. I have been quoted numerous times on this floor as saying that this is a good bill. Let me repeat that statement. This is a good bill. Let me also repeat, for all my colleagues, that the gentleman from Arizona (Chairman Kolbe) has done a good job in shepherding this bill to this point. The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) in my opinion is one of the fairest, brightest, hardest-working Members of this House. He is a gentleman for whom I have unrestrained respect and affection and with whom I enjoy working. It is unfortunate that a provision that he supports is dropped from his bill and is causing us so much consternation on this side. The good news is, for America and for this House, that 99.999 percent of this bill is agreed upon. We have four provisions, just four, that ultimately the conference could not agree on or could not be agreed upon in this House.”