Providing For Consideration Of Senate Amendment To H.R. 2847, Commerce, Justice, Science, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, I do appreciate the gentleman--and I am extending my words to him at this time. I do appreciate the gentleman, Mr. Oberstar, for being available to come down to the floor, but that is not the process. The process is the gentleman should have been upstairs at the Rules Committee. There was not one person available on behalf of the majority to come up to the Rules Committee to explain the bill. An explanation of, ``Well, none of this is new,'' is an inadequate explanation to the American people and to this body, and the Speaker should be embarrassed. This is not open. This is not, I believe, ethical, because the decisions were made and there was no discussion.

I believe we are calling into question, Republicans are calling into question today about how this House is being run. And I do appreciate the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), and, in fact, I admire him a lot. Despite its being only perhaps 15 or 18 pages, that is an inadequate explanation. This House should not stand for it. The Members of this body should say we will not tolerate this. And I am deeply disappointed once again.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time he may consume to the ranking member, the gentleman from San Dimas, California.

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r. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, the gentleman said it best about this bill: Nobody even really knows what's in it. There was no general discussion. There was no one made available to come to the Rules Committee to answer questions. There were no committee hearings on this. This isn't the way to run this House, and it's not just Republicans that are down saying this. It's Members of the majority party also. It is this kind of unthoughtful and unprofessional conduct that is being put off on this body to where Members don't even know what's in the bill, have not had the time. And once again, Republicans are down saying it's not open, it's not honest, and certainly not ethical.

I would like to yield 3 minutes at this time to the favorite son of Winterpark, Florida (Mr. Mica).

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Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, there is an answer to the gentlewoman from Texas, which is to vote against this rule. Vote against this rule. Then become a part of the process for the things which you would hope, would expect, and would want to be in the bill so at least your feedback can be accepted.

We've been told now that the Senate is the problem, but the problem is this House, Madam Speaker. The problem is the way we are doing things. The gentleman Mr. Oberstar said, Yes, we've been waiting for months to get this from the Senate. We took 2 1/2 minutes upstairs this morning--not one hearing, not one person who represented the Democratic Party who would explain what is in this bill. Now we are down on the floor, trying to figure out what is in the bill, getting it just hours ago. This is a flawed process.

Madam Speaker, hearkening back to February 5, 2009, over a year ago, in the CQ article, `` `Regular Order' Will Prevail in House After Stimulus Is Complete, Pelosi says,'' the article reads, ``Speaking at House Democrats' annual policy conference, Pelosi said in her opening speech, `Of course we will go forward under regular order. We now have a large majority and a President who will sign legislation.' ''

It's not happening. It's not happening again today. It did not happen even after February 5, 2009. We should be embarrassed, but as the old saying goes, beatings will continue until morale improves.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Bainbridge Township, Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).

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Mr. SESSIONS. Madam Speaker, you know, we have heard all this before, and it is not working. The bottom line is what this Democratic leadership and this Democratic President are proposing is not working, and that is why we are back at the well, so to speak, again.

Over and over and over again we have a bunch of people that want to claim, ``Oh, we know how to get this done. Look at what President Clinton did.'' That was a Republican House of Representatives. Those were free market ideas. That was encouraging this country to be competitive. That was doing things that would encourage America and American business to go hire people.

The three largest political items of Speaker Pelosi and President Barack Obama have lost this country 10 million net jobs. No wonder American business is not hiring people. They are getting things jammed down their throat.

The President of the United States when he was a candidate talked about all the great things that could be accomplished, and since the President has been in the White House, he has done nothing but call people names, pick on them, belittle them, bully them, and then turns around and wonders why we have no jobs, why his agenda is not working. It is obvious why it is not working, because it is not made to work. It is made to bully the free enterprise system.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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