John Spratt: “this is a creditable substitute. Three hundred and forty-two Members of this House said so resoundingly by voting for…”

“this is a creditable substitute. Three hundred and forty-two Members of this House said so resoundingly by voting for it. One hundred and sixty-nine of those who cast their votes ``aye'' were Republicans. How did this provision, this substitute, attract 342 votes, three-fourths of the House? First of all, it works, and second, it is constitutional. Let me take the second point first. Mr. Chairman, this bill, everyone will admit, is clearly constitutional. That ought to be an important consideration for any bill brought to this floor. We certainly cannot say as much for H.R. 2 as it is presently written. Last night, Mr. Chairman, the last action we took was to vote on an amendment offered by the gentleman from Georgia, Nathan Deal, which will provide expedited review by courts of the constitutionality of this particular legislation. We would not put, and we rarely put such provisions in legislation, except when we have grave and urgent doubts about its constitutionality. Therefore, it is tantamount to admitting that we have abiding doubts about the validity of H.R. 2, its constitutionality. We know we are pushing the envelope. We are taking the delegation of powers doctrine to its outer limits in passing this bill. Mr. Chairman, we know it, because we do not even know the answers to these basic questions. We will not until the Supreme Court has spoken.…”