Bob Wise: “I hope that the Chair and others understand what the concern of Democrats is today about last night. It is not about…”

“I hope that the Chair and others understand what the concern of Democrats is today about last night. It is not about whether there were 3 minutes on one side and 5 minutes on the other. The concern is that on a very important motion that changed procedure and in fact abrogated the very reforms that were voted through this House on a bipartisan basis only a week earlier, that on that very important measure, the majority did something relatively unprecedented in my memory, which is instead of yielding as something routinely is done half the debate time on that motion to the other side, instead the majority made us grovel for 3 minutes, and it did not matter whether the majority was speaking for 5 or 50 minutes, the message was clear. Three minutes is all you get, wham, bang, and we are out of here, and you are rolled. Unfortunately, that is not going to wash. I just want everybody to know, I do not mind voting on the Contract With America. I am not here to delay the Contract With America, but I am here to deliberate. So it is not delay that is at issue, it is whether we get to deliberate, and we are going to insist on that.”