Mary Gay Scanlon: “I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.…”

“I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, it is now after 4 o'clock in the afternoon. We were scheduled to be on the floor today around noon, but when I came to the floor prepared to debate this rule, we were told first to wait and then that the House would recess so the Republicans could go back behind closed doors to negotiate among themselves. This is becoming a pattern in this Congress. For the second session week in a row, the Rules Committee met far into the night and reported out completely closed rules that allow no amendments on the floor. Now, after Speaker McCarthy realized that he couldn't pass his own bill, he spent all day negotiating in secret to twist people's arms to get enough votes from his own party to get this bill or the rule passed on the floor. No one has seen what is coming out of the backroom deal today and allegedly moving to the floor under this very rule. This isn't how you run the people's House, although it is apparently how the new House majority runs the people's House--backroom deals that prioritize politics or policy over people. Turning to the matters at hand, this rule moves two bills to the floor. The first bill is H.R. 2, although, as mentioned, we still don't know what the final version of that bill will be. We should all be able to agree that immigration and border security present vast and complex issues.…”