Michael Burgess: “I would just ask if the gentleman from Massachusetts has additional speakers. If not, I am prepared to close, and I…”

“I would just ask if the gentleman from Massachusetts has additional speakers. If not, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the balance of my time to do so. Mr. Speaker, the Democrats have had to make some tough decisions about how to vote on this rule, and let me tell you why I voted to support it last night. I have disagreements with many aspects of the various pieces of legislation that will come before us, and there are some of these pieces that I will vote against. Again, there will be separate votes, and there will be separate debates, but as we learned last night in the Rules Committee, the alternative that some of my Republican friends were pushing to this approach was an Israel-only package with no humanitarian aid, not just for the people of Gaza, but for any suffering people that the aid would benefit and some really ugly border provisions, which I found unconscionable and some other bad stuff as well. Democrats, once again, will be the adults in the room, and I am so glad Republicans finally realized the gravity of the situation and the urgency with which we must act. But guess what, Mr. Speaker? You don't get an award around here for simply doing your damn job.…”