On the recordOctober 20, 2011
I thank the Chair. She is correct. She has allowed the food stamp amendment to be pending, and I am talking with staff on this side and the Senator from Maryland is not objecting at this point to that amendment. So I hope that will happen. I just wished to emphasize that there are a number of Members who feel very strongly that this is a matter we have an opportunity now to fix; that is, we shouldn't be moving forward to intervene in an ongoing lawsuit. Under our rules, there is a way to get a special relief act, if somehow there is a miscarriage of justice that occurs in our American system--an individual special relief act. But it has certain procedures, and one of the key prerequisites of that is that your litigation must be exhausted. Then, if the courts can't give you relief, we might consider it under certain procedures. So this litigation is ongoing, and that is why I am hopeful we can fix it.
