Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I think it is worth once again considering how we got to this point. Considering that under regular committee order, we should have taken this bill up 6 months ago. Three months ago, many of us went from the point of pleading to demanding, pressing harder and harder to try to bring this to the focus. Ultimately, that was not the option, and we were obligated to use a rather old but important rule in order to bring this legislation to the floor. As some of my colleagues have noted, a supermajority of the House voted for it--313 Members. A majority of the Republican Conference, a majority of the majority voted for it. Yet now we are at a point where we are rebattling all of these amendments. If you can't win by playing by the rules, then how do you win in this place? If we defeat all of these amendments, will things mysteriously happen in the next process and we will have to fight that off? That is why I tell my colleagues: Play by the rules. Remember what we accomplished last week? Understand the real purpose of these amendments. If it was to perfect a bill, then the authors would have been working with us 6 months ago or 3 months ago or a few weeks ago, but that wasn't the option provided. So now, a second time, we have to fight our way all the way through these issues. Please demonstrate that you care about economic competitiveness in this country. Please demonstrate that you care about workers in this country. Reject all of these amendments.…”