Political Quotes

“I yield myself the balance of the time. The observation has been made that these maybe should be renegotiated. Listen, Mr. Chairman, any contract can be renegotiated, as long as both sides want to renegotiate. But that was the law at the time. And what concerns me with this piece of legislation is that it implies there has to be a renegotiation. Mr. Chairman, I would suggest to some that they would say that this is the heavy hand of government forcing somebody to do something that they could do under law right now. In some areas, they call that extortion. They may not use that strong of a word, but I am sure that would be implied by some people if they were subject to this. Again, this amendment has been rejected on a bipartisan basis for the last couple of years. The courts have ruled against this. I think we should follow with that. With that, I urge rejection of the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer). The question was taken; and the Acting Chair announced that the ayes appeared to have it.”