Norman D. Dicks: “I thank the ranking member of the Rules Committee for yielding. I just want to say that this has been a bipartisan…”

“I thank the ranking member of the Rules Committee for yielding. I just want to say that this has been a bipartisan collaborative, bipartisan effort to put this bill here, and Mr. McGovern and others have explained some of the concerns about the process, and they're legitimate, and we hope to do better next year. I am committed to working together with the chairman to bring all 12 appropriations bills to the floor separately next year so that we can exercise regular order. We did have to do H.R. 1 in the spring, which was all 12 bills from '11, and we spent a week on it, and we also had over 500 amendments. And it just showed that the Members want to have a chance to amend these bills. And if you don't bring them to the floor under regular order, you don't have an opportunity to do that. So we're going to try to improve on our record. We got six to the floor this year. I think we can do better next year if we get started early, so we make a pledge to work from that. I want to compliment our chairman, Mr. Rogers, for his openness, his willingness to consider all points of view. He could not have done a better job, and to have the patience of Job to listen to everybody, and still debating the last few items in this bill this week. Now, my good friend, Mr. Dreier, whom I have enormous respect for, we work together on trade issues all the time. The only thing I would say about the other body is that they weren't doing something that was evil.…”