Richard Gephardt: “we enter a period of great importance for our people's House of Representatives and for our country. As has been said…”

“we enter a period of great importance for our people's House of Representatives and for our country. As has been said, next to declaring war, nothing we do here rises to the importance of this decision. I will vote for this rule today, but I must report that I am disappointed in the way we arrived at this rule and in the result. And, more importantly, I am disappointed in our initial attempt, which I still have faith in, to try to reach bipartisan and nonpartisan agreements on how we go through this process. The Speaker has said, and I believe his word, that he wants this to be nonpartisan. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) has said that he wants it to be fair and nonpartisan, and I believe his word. But at the end of the day yesterday we were told that there were some on the other side that could not go along with ideas that I believe many in the Republican leadership thought were reasonable ideas. Let me say what I think should have been in this rule. First, I believe that the President deserved 24 or 48 hours to read these allegations and conclusions before it was made public and sent all across the Nation and the world. We give Members that courtesy when Members are charged with wrongdoing. We have given other Presidents that courtesy. And I believe, in all fairness, this President deserves that basic fairness. What could possibly be lost by another 24 or 48 hours before this were made public?”