Rob Bishop: “I claim the time in opposition for the process of what we are doing, not necessarily the substance of the amendment at…”

“I claim the time in opposition for the process of what we are doing, not necessarily the substance of the amendment at hand. Since this bill had first been heard in our committee, there have been new voices that have been raised by the people of Windsor, California, which is the town located adjacent to the unincorporated area of the county in which this land transfer would take place. These residents have repeatedly contacted our committee asking that their voices simply be heard. Now, for whatever the reason was, we asked the committee to have one more hearing and allow these voices to actually be heard. For whatever reason, the majority on our committee decided to silence the voices and just ram this bill through the committee. The reason I and several others voted against it in committee and on the floor was simply because of the process that went through here. This, as has been mentioned, is not necessarily a new amendment. It is a bill, a bill that has passed this House and is sitting over in the Senate. It is certainly my hope that this does not portend a future in which those who make the agenda of the House consider the fact that the Democratic House will so incomparably and infrequently work with a Republican Senate that we now need to take every bill that has been passed in the House and turn it into another amendment and then attach it to the next big bill that happens to go through this process.…”