On the recordSeptember 25, 2001
may I begin by thanking the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg), the chairman of the subcommittee, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), the ranking member, for their very hard work on this bill, the best bill in some time for the District of Columbia. I must say that there was a very good chance that for once we might be able to support a rule, especially since the Committee on Appropriations, to its credit, made substantial progress on the infamous social riders by voting to eliminate one that had long plagued this bill, a rider that provides for health care benefits if paid for by a partner who may be a grandmother or mother, or may be a gay person. So the Committee on Appropriations decided that wherever they stood on gay rights, it was not worth taking down everybody at a time when health care is so important and when this body has not done its job to make sure that everyone has health care.
Source
govinfo.gov
