Providing for Consideration H.R. 2831, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007
Floor Speech
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2831, LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - July 30, 2007)
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Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, as I was preparing to come down here just a minute ago, I was met by one of my colleagues, the gentleman from Florida who said: Another closed rule? My gosh, I thought they said this was going to be an open Congress. I thought they said we are going to have closed rules only to get their political agenda, 6 in '06 done, and then we will quit that.
Well, to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Keller), another closed rule. However, this closed rule is just another manifestation of the new Democratic majority's philosophy. Just another one. And that is, if you can't support the bill in its current form, you shouldn't be given an amendment. That is the new philosophy at the Rules Committee. Democrats on the Rules Committee said at least twice last week that Members who are not willing to vote for the bill should not be allowed to offer amendments.
I would like to quote one of my colleagues. This took place this last week, and it says, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), ``I will argue for a closed rule. It makes no sense to have the minority presenting anything they might improve, that they might have agreed upon, and at the end not vote for the bill.''
Hello? What's the Rules Committee for? The Rules Committee is there to perfect bills, to make them better, to listen to input from Members of Congress. Yes, that does include the minority in my opinion, but that is only upon 9 years of service to the Rules Committee, where the Rules Committee, for the 9 years prior to this, we were very careful to make sure that minority members had a say, could come before the Rules Committee. This is yet another example of the circular logic used by the majority. And it is only when you support a bill should you have the opportunity to amend it.
You know, this is tortured logic and it makes no sense, and it prevents good ideas from being considered by the House. But this is the way they are going to run the House, it seems like. New logic, move the goalposts. And make sure, if you are in the minority and if you don't completely agree with the Democrat majority, you have no need to come to the Rules Committee. We don't care, and you are not going to have a chance to even be heard or understood. It's a sad day.
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