Political Quotes

“I have heard a lot of irresponsible talk about how secret agreements were made between the two committees. Well, nothing of the kind occurred. There was open discussion between the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary and the chairman of the Committee on Commerce, and from that came the managers' amendment, and there is no secrecy involved here. As a matter of fact, for the benefit of those who do not know, the manager's amendments return this legislation to something very close to what passed this House last year 423 to 5. That is what the members' amendment does. The process is open. Members are having an opportunity to discuss this on the House Floor under a rule, and to say otherwise is either to deceive yourself or to deceive the Members of this body. That is what the facts are, and I would urge my colleagues to not listen to this kind of nonsense, but rather, to respect the institution, the Members who have brought forward this amendment, to understand that it is a fair amendment, it is in the public interest, and it is balanced, and it is not founded upon a lot of sleazy lobbying of the kind we have seen and the mail we have been getting from the long-distance industry.”