Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Speaker I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, after listening to the gentleman from Michigan, I am a…”

“Mr. Speaker I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, after listening to the gentleman from Michigan, I am a little bit confused. Because last week, the Congress appropriated almost $52 billion without a hearing. Right before Labor Day, the Congress appropriated $10 billion without a hearing. Today, I had scheduled three Katrina-related bills for markup in the Judiciary Committee. They were not ready by our 24-hour deadline, and the gentleman from Michigan objected to that, so I called off that markup, and we are going to have to do that next week. Otherwise we would have it on the floor much more promptly. The fact of the matter remains that these people need to have the immunity for liability in order that they can volunteer and effectively deliver their volunteer services. The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the other opponents of this bill have come up with a litany of horrors that this bill would allow criminal conduct to be immunized, and that is not the case. This bill specifically does not apply in any way to protect those whose willful, wanton, reckless or criminal conduct causes injury; nor does it apply to those who violate the Federal or State civil rights laws when injury occurs.…”