Charles Rangel: “the one word that could describe the procedure that we are going through this afternoon is ``outrageous.'' It is…”

“the one word that could describe the procedure that we are going through this afternoon is ``outrageous.'' It is outrageous what is happening to this House of Representatives, and even more painful is what is happening to my beloved Committee on Ways and Means. It is true that most of the Members, Republican and Democrats, walk around with more self-esteem than we really need, but the truth of the matter is, we were under the belief that revenue issues came from the House of Representatives, came from the Committee on Ways and Means, came to the floor; and historically, this is the way it has been. Mr. Speaker, this is outrageous. I did not understand half of what the chairman said. I know one thing he is saying, and that is that what we are voting on has nothing to do with all of the tax cuts that came to the House of Representatives and were voted for. It is a fraud that has been committed by press releases that this House has cut people's taxes, because they have only taken one piece of the bill, and the only reason they have taken that is so that we can accept the Senate bill. So the prerogatives of the House in terms of revenue issues now has been laterally passed to the other body, and that will be decided in conference; and not only will Democrats be excluded, but most all Republicans will be excluded.”