[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19567-19568]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CONGRESS, AN INCLUSIVE BODY

  (Mr. WITTMAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WITTMAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, we have a number of 
challenges in this country. We see the energy challenge we have before 
us. We've heard here in recent days of all of the challenges in our 
financial markets. I would suggest that we need to make sure that we 
use this opportunity to be inclusive when we make decisions.
  Just the other day when an energy bill passed this body, there was a 
great opportunity there to make sure that we had the best ideas coming 
forward, to make sure that we worked on things

[[Page 19568]]

in a bipartisan manner, to make sure we did what was in the best 
interest of this country. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. 
Unfortunately, those best ideas didn't all make it to the table, and 
that's not what this country is built on.
  This country is built on making sure that this body makes decisions 
in an inclusive way, and I hope the Speaker will hold true to her words 
that she said earlier, that this was going to be the most inclusive 
body in the history of this body. You know, I'm concerned when that 
doesn't happen. It leaves out those great ideas. It leaves out segments 
of America who want their voices heard here to make sure that we do 
things in a fair and equitable way.
  Madam Speaker, I call on you to make sure that we do have an 
inclusive process in this body.

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