[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3708]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                PROCESS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

  (Mr. ISSA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, it is not good to talk process in the House of 
Representatives. I keep hearing that. But when the process that you are 
talking about is the execution of our right in a democratic society to 
speak and make a difference, then it is necessary to speak on process.
  Mr. Speaker, this week we will spend 4 days on the Iraq resolution. I 
say ``the'' Iraq resolution because it has already been crafted by 
Speaker Pelosi; it already is a final product. The only thing left to 
do is in fact to vote on it because we will not be allowed to amend it; 
the rule will be a closed rule. Democracy and speech and debate will 
not in fact change anything. The final vote will be exactly at the end 
of the week where it was at the beginning. That is wrong. Republicans 
never did that when we held the Speaker's gavel. Democrats should not 
do that as they hold the Speaker's gavel.
  The right to amend and the right to debate that leads to a better 
bill is a right of this democracy, and this body has been reduced by 
the taking of that right.

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