Charles Rangel: “I take the floor in opposition to the rule. And I regret that the distinguished chairman of the committee has left the…”

“I take the floor in opposition to the rule. And I regret that the distinguished chairman of the committee has left the floor, because I do believe that, being in the minority, that the Committee on Rules has been extremely fair in giving Democrats an opportunity, not to pass anything and not to get any votes from them, but at least to give us the opportunity as the minority to have our views heard. This bill has been called a bipartisan bill. And you can call it bipartisan all day and all night, this year and next year, but you can put wings on a pig and he cannot fly. This is not a bipartisan bill. Bipartisan means, to the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, walking down the hall with Rangel and giving him an opportunity to talk about trade. If I miss that, then I miss the bipartisanship. This was never discussed in the subcommittee, it never was discussed in the full committee, never discussed with Democrats, but there were meetings with two Democrats with the chairman. And he concluded after those conversations that ended compromise, that ended discussion, and that was the end product.”