Providing for Consideration of H.R. Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, Providing for Consideration of H.R. Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, and Waiving A Requirement of Clause Reported From the Committee on Rules
Floor Speech
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Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Oklahoma for yielding me some time.
Well, Mr. Speaker, here we are again. Last night, the Rules Committee, under its new chairman, Mr. McGovern, voted to bring four spending bills to the House floor, four bills that have never had a hearing in this body, have never had a markup in this body, and now, under Democratic control of the House, will have no amendments made in order.
These bills may sound familiar to my constituents because these are the exact same bills that House Democrats forced votes on last week, only now we will be considering them one by one, rather than in a large package.
Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Rules Committee over the last 4 years, I can tell you I had the distinct honor of listening to the now- chairman of the Rules Committee spend hours, literally hours, berating those of us in the majority for not allowing amendments on bills.
So, Mr. Speaker, you can understand my full expectation as Democrats took control of this body that we would be seeing open rules allowing for vigorous debate on amendments and healthy, open dialogue and transparency on these important pieces of legislation. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
If I could, Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote the now-chairman who spoke of his frustrations with the Rules Committee in recent months.
First of all:
The Rules Committee ought to be a place where people who have good ideas, whether you agree with them or not, have legitimate ideas, ought to be able to have the opportunity to be able to offer them. Increasingly, we're moving away from that.
Secondly, Mr. Speaker:
I'm always intrigued by the excuses why we can't be open . . . and decry this very closed process.
And lastly, Mr. Speaker:
I hope if we're lucky enough to take over this place, I hope that we're more accommodating.
Well, Mr. Speaker, they were, in fact, lucky enough. The Democrats took control of this body and very well could be allowing amendments today. But, unfortunately, that is not the case.
For instance, last night, I offered three amendments to two of the bills before us, all three of which were accepted unanimously in the 115th Congress in the House Appropriations Committee, again, on a bipartisan basis.
Unfortunately, the chairman isn't allowing a single amendment on the Republican or Democratic side to be offered on any of these four bills, including bipartisan amendments like those that I had offered.
I thank my good friend from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) for his effort to push these amendments to be made in order. It is sincerely disappointing to see the chairman and House Democrats manage legislation in the very manner they so vehemently decried.
Mr. Speaker, I will be voting ``no'' on this rule and ``no'' on these spending bills.
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Mr. NEWHOUSE. My constituents' priorities deserve to be represented in the people's House. Unfortunately, in this bill, they are not.
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