[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           FREE AND FULL DEBATE MUST BE ALLOWED IN THE HOUSE

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I do not want to turn this body into an 
authoritarian dictatorship, but recently, in the Ways and Means 
Committee I attended a meeting regularly called and I attempted to 
speak on a motion that was being made. I was immediately cut off by a 
parliamentary maneuver, and not given a chance to speak.

                              {time}  1800

  I have been here 33 years, Mr. Speaker. I do not believe I have ever 
seen that happen, I know in the Committee on Ways and Means, and I have 
never seen it happen on this floor. I know that my Republican friends 
are trying to hide their Medicare program from the American public, and 
we are doing the best we can to let the American public know what is 
going on. But the kind of parliamentary procedure I see around here now 
shocks me. This body is going to be seriously injured if we act in an 
authoritarian way and allow no debate.

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