Bob Krueger Post Office

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. FALLON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I am opposed to this bill for procedural reasons. The House Oversight and Reform Committee's agreed-upon procedures for considering postal naming bills clearly dictate several requirements for such measures to advance through the House. Among those is the requirement that postal naming bills be cosponsored by the entire State delegation before it will be considered in the Oversight Committee, and then they proceed to the floor.

There are very good reasons for these requirements. This is to ensure that the State's collective representation agrees that such a local hero deserves this high honor and the attention of the full Congress.

Unfortunately, this bill is only cosponsored by 34 of the 36 Members of the Texas delegation, which means it is not ready for consideration here today.

Furthermore, this bill has not even been marked up by the committee of jurisdiction in the House Oversight Committee, which means it is bypassing regular order to come straight to the House floor. This is a departure from past precedent and procedure.

Following regular order and past practice on these measures prevents wasting valuable time and resources here on the House floor. There are dozens of other bills that have earned the support of their entire State delegations and have also been unanimously approved by the House Oversight Committee. We should be spending the valuable time on this floor that we have remaining in this Congress considering these other bills that are higher in the queue, some of which were introduced in the first half of last year.

For these reasons, I cannot support H.R. 8203, which breaks with our agreed-upon process.

Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. FALLON. Madam Speaker, again, for procedural reasons, I encourage my colleagues to vote against this bill so we may return to regular order in consideration of postal naming in the naming measures going forward this year and into the 118th Congress.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 8203, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. FALLON. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source