Bob Latta: “I rise today to speak against the rule for H.R. 5019. I offered an amendment in full committee markup which would have…”

“I rise today to speak against the rule for H.R. 5019. I offered an amendment in full committee markup which would have prevented enactment of H.R. 5019 if there was an impact on deficit neutrality. I withdrew that amendment in committee due to an exchange I had with the chairman, Mr. Waxman, where he told me we would continue to work on this amendment so we could pay for this bill before we brought it to the House floor. There has been no pay-for secured, unfortunately, and therefore I offered a similar amendment in the Rules Committee. The amendment was not accepted in the Rules Committee, and therefore we are not able to have open debate on the issue today on the House floor. It is frustrating that the majority has shut down the opportunity to have a debate on the cost of the legislation and the addition it would be to the Federal deficit. Very simply, my amendment stated that the provision of this act, including the amendments made by the act, shall be suspended and shall not apply if there is a negative net effect on the national budget deficit of the United States. I'm very concerned about the $6.6 billion price tag of this legislation.”