Louise Slaughter: “this rule is unprecedented. The House has already passed an open rule for the consideration of the Labor-HHS and…”

“this rule is unprecedented. The House has already passed an open rule for the consideration of the Labor-HHS and Education bills. The second rule we are being asked to approve tonight is a rule that will block any real consideration of that bill. Instead, this rule's extraordinary procedure is designed to give a single special interest group a vote that it wishes to use in a voter scorecard before the election. Once we take that vote, the appropriations bill will be pulled from the floor. Subverting the House's legislative process for this cynical political ploy typifies the majority's actions this entire session. The do- nothing majority continues to put its own special interest politics before the public good. We have seen bill after bill manipulated for partisan purposes, forcing Members to take votes for purely partisan political reasons. We knew these bills would never be enacted into law, but each provided a sound bite for some special agenda. In the meantime, this majority has failed in its most basic responsibility. For the first time since the Congressional Budget Act was passed 24 years ago, Congress has not passed a budget resolution. The law requires action on a concurrent budget resolution by April 15. That is many months ago. Six months later, the majority has still failed to pass a resolution.”