Waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

I want to begin by expressing my great appreciation to the very able and distinguished Chair of the Committee on Rules, my dear friend from Rochester (Ms. Slaughter) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

And I will say, Madam Speaker, that I stand here with somewhat mixed emotions. While I am happy that we are going to finally ensure that our men and women in uniform who are on the front lines ensuring the safety of our fellow Americans are going to have the funding that is necessary, I'm saddened that we are here at this juncture considering this measure under a process which was not at all necessary.

Madam Speaker, if we had, literally months ago, months ago, come to this point, we could have, under regular order, very easily provided the necessary troop funding that is out there, dealt with the issue of unemployment benefits, which is going to be addressed, and ensure that we're not going to put into place a massive tax increase on job creators here in the United States.

So I will say, Madam Speaker, that we want to do everything that we can to, as expeditiously as possible, meet the demand that has been set forward by our leaders on the frontline in the field in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I hope very much that my colleagues will join with me. It's not normal that I would support this structure that would allow for same- day consideration of the measure, but I believe it is imperative that we get funding to our troops, and I believe that the measure that we're going to consider in just a little while from now will allow us to do that.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Would the gentlewoman yield on that point?

I will simply say that there were very important reasons that we did not support it: a massive tax increase that was imposed on working Americans and job creators.

This measure that we are going to be considering later today is one that I believe we can have support from the United States Senate on and support from the President on. And we know full well that had that measure passed this House that we would have ended up right where we are today because the President would have vetoed the bill if it had gotten there, and most likely, would have not gotten through the Senate.

So I thank my friend for yielding. Let's move ahead. We have a bipartisan compromise right now, and I believe it is beneficial.

If I could ask my friend to further yield, I will say absolutely not. I will tell you that what I was talking about was the tax that is imposed on those people in upper income brackets, 82 percent of whom are small business owners in this country. That's the tax that we were talking about in the last measure, and that played a big role in leading those of us who want to ensure that we get this economy growing again that we would not, in fact, impinge on that by imposing that tax increase.

So I will say to my friend, let's move ahead. Let's make sure that we get the important funding to our troops so that we can be successful in ensuring our safety, and I thank my friend for yielding.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1281 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

For the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier). All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only.

I yield myself such time as I may consume and ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on House Resolution 1281.

Madam Speaker, H. Res. 1281 waives clause 6(a) of rule XIII which requires a two-thirds vote to consider a rule on the same day it is reported from the Rules Committee. The waiver would apply to any rule reported on the legislative day of June 19, 2008, that provides for consideration or disposition of a measure making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year 2008.

Madam Speaker, with the passage of this rule, the House would move one step closer to taking up the supplemental appropriations bill, a bill forged in bipartisan compromise that provides funding for our troops currently on the ground, critical domestic savings for Americans calling out for relief, and a dramatic expansion for veterans' educational benefits.

The same-day rule will allow us to do all of this in an expedited manner. Later today, the Rules Committee will report out a rule that will give the Chamber the opportunity to debate the bipartisan legislation dealing with some of the most pressing issues facing our Nation today.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, just one response to my good friend from California and my dear friend, that had the Republican Party voted for the last supplemental bill which funded the troops, it would not be necessary to be here today.

I will be happy to yield.

I just want to make one inquiry: Is the massive tax increase you're talking about the extension of unemployment benefits?

Well, I will just close by saying we've been trying very hard to do just that.

I yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.