Sherrod Brown: “Let us call this vote what it is. This is a brand-new fast track bill. Rules do not include 191 pages of…”

“Let us call this vote what it is. This is a brand-new fast track bill. Rules do not include 191 pages of never-before-considered legislative changes to a bill that passed the House by a single, weeping, arm-twisted vote. No one here can remember any rule that has ever employed the procedural deceptiveness of this rule. No hearings on these provisions. No opportunity to offer amendments. No opportunity for substantive debate. Members are being asked to accept that the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means is the best judge of the needs and concerns of House Members and their constituents. Right. This rule would only complicate efforts to convene a cooperative, bipartisan conference on fast track. Defeat the rule.”