John Spratt: “we have before us a conference report, but everyone should understand there has been no conference in which the House or…”

“we have before us a conference report, but everyone should understand there has been no conference in which the House or Senate Democrats have had any role or any part whatsoever. This conference report comes to the floor in the same spirit, under a cram-down rule. Take it or leave it, here it is, a conference report that will spend $2.2 trillion, one-fifth of our gross national product, which we have had less than 30 minutes to look over, 30 minutes to give the most cursory sort of examination to. The rules of the House, Mr. Speaker, prohibit such unseemly haste when things are this important. The rules of the House require that a budget report of this kind lay over for at least 1 day before being called up. But our Republican colleagues, by this martial law rule, would take a chain saw to the rules of the House. That is why this is called a martial law rule, it brooks no dissent. It mows right over the speed brakes we have set up to make sure that our decisions made here in the great House of Representatives of the United States are made carefully and deliberately and thoughtfully. This rule rips up those cautionary measures, those speed brakes, so that this budget resolution can be railroaded through this House. Mr. Speaker, I choose my words carefully. That is what is happening here tonight in the cloak of darkness when this $2.2 trillion budget resolution is being brought up.”