Political Quotes

“And I thank my friend, the gentleman from Georgia, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. I rise, obviously, in opposition to the rule and underlying bill because neither of these measures will keep the Department of Homeland Security from shutting down in 3 days, something that I am sure is of vital interest to my friend from Georgia who is an advocate, continuously and has been since being on the Rules Committee and here in Congress, of having an open process. I would only urge that we understand that the last Congress, the 113th, was the most closed Congress in the history of all of the House of Representatives; yet, at this point, in this, the 114th Congress, we find ourselves in this position. In the last Congress, 38 percent of the rules were closed at this point, six out of 16. As of today, this House has approved 75 percent of its rules that are closed. In other words, this Congress is on a path to be twice as closed as the last, which had the most, in history, closed rules. Now, my friend Mr. Woodall certainly understands that, and every Member of this House understands that. A lot of times, constituents hear us, and it sounds a whole lot like Washington speak, but the fact is, just simply, that when a rule is closed, as this one is, with the exception of one portion that is open for yet another provision in the measure, H.R.…”