Debbie Dingell: “we are considering under a very strange rule a very strange process which has resulted in a bill which is quite…”

“we are considering under a very strange rule a very strange process which has resulted in a bill which is quite different than reported by the committee. I wanted to commend the distinguished chairman and the distinguished ranking member for the superb work which they did in crafting what I thought was a very fine bill. Somehow last night we found ourselves with a bill on our hands which is quite different than that which was presented to the House by the committee, after very thoughtful and careful work leading to an overwhelming bipartisan vote. What we are doing today is not considering just a few simple questions like expenditures of money. We are dealing today with basic constitutional rights. Ordinarily these are matters of the highest importance and are considered with great care under a rule, in an open process, because, after all, these are the things upon which Americans rely for their personal security and for their understanding that their rights are protected. All of a sudden sometime, probably last night, the Attorney General snuck up here to have a meeting. The result is that the bill suffered some extraordinary changes, all of which deal with the basic, fundamental rights of Americans in ways very different and probably much more unfavorably than did the committee bill. This is not the way.…”