Sherrod Brown: “1838, former President, then- Congressman, John Quincy Adams came to the House floor because he was prohibited, as were…”

“1838, former President, then- Congressman, John Quincy Adams came to the House floor because he was prohibited, as were the other Members of Congress, from debating the most important issue of the day. Conservative leadership in the House of Representatives between 1838 and 1842 had passed a rule prohibiting and banning the discussion of slavery on the floor of the House of Representatives. Then-Congressman John Quincy Adams came to the floor, day after day, week after week, sharing letters from his constituents, many of them from women who could not vote in those days, sharing letters from his constituents asking, pleading with the House, that they debate the issue of slavery and that they ban and wipe away that blot on American history. In some ways similarly today, Members of this House have not had the opportunity to debate the issues of Iraq, of keeping our troops safe in Iraq, of providing and supplying our troops, of the corruption and the incompetence in the Pentagon and in the Bush administration in supplying the troops and turning over so many public dollars to private contractors.”