Joe Cunningham: “In 4 years, I never voted in this House for a rule unless it was an open rule. And that is what we fought for your right…”

“In 4 years, I never voted in this House for a rule unless it was an open rule. And that is what we fought for your right to come here for and that is why we fought for a majority. In the last bill, there were some things that hurt California but it was an open rule. It was a fair and open debate. I did not like that. But that is the way that I think that we have to fight for this place. The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities are in my subcommittee. You are concerned that the Senate has a 7 year, we have a 3 year. I voted every single year to totally cut out the humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and if I thought it was going to go on indefinitely, I would do that again. But what I do want to do is allow the good programs that survive in this program to phase out over a 3-year period and let them establish their own endowment. I think that is fair, and I think that is fair under an open rule. I urge my colleagues to vote for this. If you do not, in my subcommittee, I will not authorize it at all, if they try and go beyond that.”