Bill Pascrell: “Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. This is not a fraternity house. This is the House of Representatives. Yet what have we…”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. This is not a fraternity house. This is the House of Representatives. Yet what have we wrought? I heard someone, two people say on this floor, quoting the President of the United States--they should apologize to him immediately--that the President was urging us to vote a 1-year plan. He wasn't asking us to vote on your plan for a year. You know what he thinks about what you proposed. And it didn't even come up in the Senate. In fact, 39 Republicans--that's 82 percent of the entire delegation of a Republican Senate--and 89 percent of the total Senate voted for this compromise. I know you hate the word. ``Compromise'' does not mean that you surrender your values or your principles. Compromise is what was the basis of the Founding Fathers. That's how we got a Constitution. Nobody was happy with that Constitution. They didn't get everything they wanted, and you're not going to get everything you want. So you'd better get it out of your head right now. The majority leader--wonderful cliches--he forgets that only 2 years ago a Republican Member of the House sponsored a 2-month payroll tax holiday and had 59 cosponsors. We have amnesia, selective amnesia. He changed his tune this Saturday. He was against the idea of a short-term gimmick. This Saturday he said it's a good deal. ``It's a victory,'' he said. He claimed victory. That reminds me of another victory I heard a couple of years ago.…”