Charles W. Stenholm: “it is with a great deal of disappointment that I come to the floor today opposing the rule and opposing a fiscally…”

“it is with a great deal of disappointment that I come to the floor today opposing the rule and opposing a fiscally irresponsible bill. I did not want to be here. I have been very supportive of the work my good friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), has done in the areas of energy. But I have been here for 22 years, and I remember when this body used to act like a legislative body. I remember the last time we debated a national energy policy it took weeks, not one day. I remember when we used to allow those who had a difference of opinion an opportunity to come to the floor on their issues and to vote on those issues and let the will of the House, not the will of the leadership, make the determination. We continue day after day after day to have rules coming out of the Committee on Rules that do not allow those who have a different opinion to bring their ideas to the floor of the House. We had a Democratic alternative. It was put together by the Blue Dogs, and it was then run through our caucus, in which we got not unanimous opinion but we got enough agreement that we wanted to bring it to the floor and perfect the work of the majority; but more significantly, we wanted to pay for it. To my colleagues in this House on both sides of the aisle who vote for this rule and for this bill, they will be voting to take additional money out of Social Security, which we have said time and time again we are not going to do.”