[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 2 (Thursday, January 5, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1010
                      THEY CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

  (Mr. EDWARDS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday this House passed bipartisan 
legislation to reform Congress. Together Democrats and Republicans took 
the first important step toward restoring faith in this institution, 
and I applaud the new leadership for that.
  But I had one disappointment. There is one thing Americans do not 
want, and that is a double standard. That is why we applied the laws of 
this land to the rules of this Congress.
  Yet for 2 years our Republican friends criticized the fact that we 
had closed rules, that we did not allow amendments to be brought 
forward on this floor. My friends on the Republican side should do one 
of two things. They should either admit they were wrong over the last 2 
years as they attacked Democrats for trying to limit amendments on this 
floor, or they should admit they were wrong yesterday and today in 
trying to limit that open process. It is their choice, and I am willing 
to accept that choice, but they cannot have it both ways.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope we can proceed with open rules and the open 
process, and I look forward to working with colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle to restore faith in this institution.

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