Maurice Hinchey: “I am a bit mystified by the statement that was just made by my friend and colleague from New York. The Democrat party is…”

“I am a bit mystified by the statement that was just made by my friend and colleague from New York. The Democrat party is not in the majority in this House. We do not control the agenda. That is controlled by the Republican party, and there is no reason why an amendment that a Republican Member wants to bring forward should not be brought forward and everybody has an opportunity to vote on it. I am sure I would have voted for it if the gentleman had brought it out here. It is not too late. Let us bring the amendment out here, discuss it. If the amendment has merit, then it will pass. I do not see any reason why it is not going to be brought forward. It is your amendment. You are in control of the House. You bring it forward. I want to thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks), the ranking member, for yielding me the time; and I appreciate his leadership and hard work on this bill. I also want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor), our chairman, for his hard work. I have enjoyed working with our chairman on the process that put this bill together. We had a good series of hearings earlier this year that led to some spirited discussions among the members of the subcommittee, and I want to thank the professional staff on both sides for all the good work that they have done. There are some very good initiatives in this bill.…”