Debbie Dingell: “the Senate last week spent a whole week in arriving at a decision on this legislation. It was a thoughtful debate…”

“the Senate last week spent a whole week in arriving at a decision on this legislation. It was a thoughtful debate, compromises were worked out on a bipartisan basis, and a good bill was sent here. Let us look at where we are and why. A Member in this Chamber went to the White House in a closed meeting and worked out a deal. That deal was not reduced to writing until this morning. He did not know what was in the deal at the time he appeared before the Committee on Rules. Nobody else knew. I do not know now. None of you know. I seriously doubt that the Member who cut the deal knows what he has done. I do not think that any Member can understand the ramifications of these curious transactions. In the Senate, the leaders were willing to forgo the Independence Day recess in order to work this legislation up. Here, without the vaguest understanding of what we are doing, we are now rushing to send a bill to the President. The doctors have a way of describing this thing. They say, First, do no harm. There is a plethora of amendments which have been added to this legislation under the rule. If Members vote for the rule, they are going to vote for a bill that has not been tested and that the author of the amendment cannot satisfactorily explain to himself or to us. Mr. Speaker, this is a bad process. I would point out that it sets up a whole new Federal standard for torts and for jurisprudence, something which has not been done for 300 years in this country.”