NAN A. S. HAYWORTH: “And if the gentleman would yield, I think it is important to note again for purposes of full disclosure, and again to…”

“And if the gentleman would yield, I think it is important to note again for purposes of full disclosure, and again to bring some element of bipartisanship to this debate. Now I understand that Members of the new minority are taking their own fledgling steps toward coming up with a plan, and I welcome what in essence, according to one newspaper account, amounts to a, quote unquote, deathbed conversion after months of railing and ranting when we were willing to abandon politics as usual and say no. It is always better for a professional politician to try and explain away problems. No, we rather not confront this, the fact that we have come from different walks of life to serve here as citizen legislators and say to the American public this is an issue too important to play politics as usual, and so I think even though we had months and months of reticence, to put it diplomatically, from our friends from the new minority, now even they are understanding that the American people are not going to be satisfied with people sitting on the sidelines moaning, complaining, about very serious policy questions. So to their credit in fairness I am glad to see that many Members of the minority now say that they want to come up with a plan. However, it is important to remember this. Is it a fledgling step for political appearances that amounts to putting a Band-Aid across a very serious wound?”