Rob Andrews: “in this debate we see the irony of the majority leadership of the House of Representatives in a rather strange way. They…”

“in this debate we see the irony of the majority leadership of the House of Representatives in a rather strange way. They are rushing to get to the floor a provision that has barely been debated and discussed, that is highly controversial, highly technical, and not very well understood by a lot of people. An absolute rush to get this to the floor. The number one issue, I trust in most Members' districts, it sure is in mine, is the urgent pendency of a deal that would turn over major port operations throughout this country to a company wholly owned by the United Arab Emirates, an ally of rather questionable and debatable standing with the United States. Now, this is going to happen, this port deal, if Congress does not act. The President has made that very clear. And many of us believe that we need to get to this floor right now, not later, legislation on this issue so that the majority can work its will. Members on both sides of the aisle have said this is what we need to be doing right now. But there is nothing on the agenda to do anything about that. Nothing. We are going to go off for another recess, and who knows what is going to be negotiated on this deal when we are gone? My sense is this is what our constituents want us to debate and legislate on, the wisdom or lack thereof of this port takeover deal.…”