Jerry Lewis

Mr. LEWIS of California

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LEWIS of California

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my colleague, Mr. Wamp from Tennessee.

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery).

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to Mr. Kingston from Georgia.

Mr. LEWIS of California. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of California. I will have a few seconds, but at the end of it, if you are at the end.

Mr. LEWIS of California. I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, in the interest of keeping this wonderful dialogue going on, I yield the gentleman from Georgia 1 additional minute.

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my colleague from the Appropriations Committee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson).

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, one of the delights of this process, preparing for this bill, has been to go back through the process of the past and look at some of the protestations and expressions of concern by my colleague, now the chairman of the full Appropriations Committee. I love this quote particularly. He says, ``Now this bill is going nowhere. It's going to be vetoed.'' Which bill are we talking about? This one or that one? The American people know that once again Congress is putting partisan political considerations ahead of the needs of the American people. What we ought to do is to stop these political games and go forward with the regular process. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of California. As of this moment, we have one additional speaker. I may take 10 seconds to close or something like that.

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt).

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I proudly yield 1 minute to my colleague from Arizona (Mr. Flake).

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the Republican Policy chairman, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter).

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen).

Mr. LEWIS of California. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. LEWIS of California. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of California. I will just have a few seconds. I will reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my colleague from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers). (Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LEWIS of California

Mr. LEWIS of California. Madam Speaker, I very much appreciate my colleague yielding me this time. Perhaps the most important counsel I have ever received came from my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Adeline Gunther. ``Gram,'' as we called her, was the founder and guiding light of the University Religious Conference located near the UCLA campus. Gram said to me, ``Always remember, Jerry, what you are not willing to do in order to win.'' Think about that. What you are not willing to do in order to win. Those running the Democratic leadership of the House need desperately to learn that lesson. So enamored with their power after 12 years out of the majority, the Democrat majority is now moving rapidly in the direction of reinventing the authoritarian system that was a part of their control for the previous 40 years. The outrageous movement of the Iraq supplemental to the House floor, without consideration by the Committee on Appropriations and under a closed rule, is the case in point. The supplemental began as a $108 billion request for funding requirements for the troops for the remainder of 2008. This must-pass emergency legislation has now grown to somewhere near $250 billion. A whole array of legislative provisions has been added that could have been and should have been addressed by way of regular order during the appropriations process. Unfortunately, the supplemental will bypass the Appropriations Committee altogether, and through use of parliamentary trickery, avoid the inconvenient input of Democrat and Republican Members who have real expertise in the subject areas involved. Regular order is designed to ensure that people's voices and interests are heard on serious public policy questions as they move through the legislative process. To have the Democrat leadership cut off the people's right to be heard by such a crass parliamentary set of maneuvers results in great harm to the Appropriations Committee and seriously undermines the credibility of the world's most admired legislative body. Only three or four Members, at most, have provided serious input throughout this misguided process. All Members, Democrats and Republicans alike, should be enraged by this arrogant demonstration of dictatorial control. I know from private conversations with many of my friends on the other side of the aisle that there is a great deal of frustration among Democrats with Chairman Obey and Speaker Pelosi for their excessive and abusive control of this process. Madam Speaker, let me assure you that my colleagues and I will continue to exercise every tool available to us to protect the established traditions of the House and the fundamentals of our democratic system. It is clear that Speaker Pelosi is willing to do anything, including stifling the voices of nearly every Member of the House, to win. I urge all of my colleagues to remember the words of my mentor, Dr. Adeline Gunther, who said, ``Always remember what you are not willing to do in order to win.''

Mr. LEWIS of California

Mr. LEWIS of California. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. LEWIS of California. Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. LEWIS of California

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express to the House my concern about the fact that Chairman Obey and Speaker Pelosi are very, very busy these days. If news reports are to be believed, it's apparent that they're going about doing all of the work of the Appropriations Committee as well as the House almost all alone with almost no input from Democrats or Republicans from the House. Because of that busy schedule, I have been writing to Mr. Obey of late. I have sent him three letters altogether. Last Thursday, I sent him a letter that was signed by the entire Republican membership of the Appropriations Committee urging him to have regular order and full hearings on the supplemental that is before us that represents a huge portion of our spending, and yet there has been no hearing whatsoever. Just in case Mr. Obey hasn't seen this letter because his staff is very busy, I know, working on these projects, I would like to submit that letter for the Record and urge the House to urge the leadership to allow us to have public hearings so that Members can have input regarding their districts' needs on this very, very important part of this year's work. House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Washington, DC, May 1, 2008. Hon. David Obey, Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman: In the absence of any response from you to my April 21st and April 24th letters, and recognizing Senator Byrd's immediate response to the Republican Senators from his Committee, we are writing to once again express our grave concerns over media reports that your leadership plans to unilaterally, and without Member input, write and take to the House floor the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill under a closed rule and bypass full Appropriations Committee consideration. Such action would be an historical and unprecedented abdication of responsibility for the House Appropriations Committee and would be viewed by many in both parties as a shameful power grab by House and Senate leaders. Senator Byrd, who recognizes the slippery slope involved in circumventing the well-established rules and precedents of the Appropriations Committee, has scheduled a frill Senate Appropriations Committee markup for the week of May 5th. We urge you in the strongest possible terms to follow Senator Byrd's example and schedule a full Committee markup in the House at the earliest possible date. It is only right and fair that you allow Members of our Committee--Republicans and Democrats--to do the work they were elected to do. We are extremely troubled by the fact that under this scheme no Member of the House will be afforded the opportunity to offer amendments in full Committee or on the House floor while Senators in the other body will be given the opportunity to let their constituent's voices be heard. We must act expeditiously to move through full Committee and onto the floor a clean Emergency Supplemental, free of extraneous funding and policy provisions, to address the urgent needs of our troops and their families. On October 20, 2006 then Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter to then-Speaker Hastert: ``We must restore bipartisanship to the administration of the House, reestablish regular order for considering legislation. and ensure the rights of the minority, whichever party is in the minority. The voice of every American has a right to be heard.'' Again, we urge you and Speaker Pelosi to stand by those words. Historical precedent and tradition dictates that this legislation be fashioned in an open and transparent process, and ensure full participation by both parties--not behind closed doors but in the full light of day. As the Speaker stated less than two years ago, every Member of the Appropriations Committee and, indeed, every Member of the House and their constituents deserve to have their voices heard. We look forward to your timely response. Sincerely, Jerry Lewis; C.W. Bill Young; Ralph Regula; Harold Rogers; Frank R. Wolf; James T. Walsh; David L. Hobson; Joe Knollenberg; Jack Kingston; Rodney P. Frelinghuysen. Todd Tiahrt; Zach Wamp; Tom Latham; Robert B. Aderholt; Jo Ann Emerson; Kay Granger; John E. Peterson; Virgil H. Goode, Jr.; Ray LaHood; Dave Weldon. Michael K. Simpson; John Abney Culberson; Mark Steven Kirk; Ander Crenshaw; Dennis R. Rehberg; John R. Carter; Rodney Alexander; Ken Calvert; Jo Bonner.

Mr. LEWIS of California

Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote. Motion to Table Offered by Mr. Hastings of Florida