Pete Sessions: “I am a little bit shocked and surprised with the reformers that have come to Congress, the brand-new Democrats who are…”

“I am a little bit shocked and surprised with the reformers that have come to Congress, the brand-new Democrats who are talking about all these things that they are going to get done. Yet it seems to me that with the respect we would have for the voters who sent us here, that we would not be asked to approve and get ready to vote on things without even seeing the bills. The new Democrat party, in their openness and trying to do things right, is asking Members of this body to vote for and approve getting rules to the floor without even knowing what the bills are about, the substance. I rise in opposition to this. I rise in opposition because I think it is a step backwards, not a step forwards. It represents less transparency and is a slap in the face for regular order to this House. Section 503 of this flawed package rolls back the Sunlight reforms implemented by the Republican Party in 1995, and it creates a secret ballot in the Rules Committee for votes that are taken right upstairs, where we would meet, where rules, as they are debated and brought before this House, Members always had to make sure that the votes that they were going to support would be recorded. That is not going to happen. There is no compelling reason for this bait-and-switch that has happened now by the new Democrats.”