Lincoln Diaz-Balart

Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend, Ms. Pingree from Maine, for the time and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, we find ourselves back on the House floor with yet another closed rule. In fact, we haven't seen a single open rule during this entire 111th Congress. I never thought that I would see that, Madam Speaker, an entire Congress pass without a single open rule.

Just 3 hours ago, the Rules Committee was meeting on the underlying legislation before us today. This is the fifth rule since the election that will deny the minority the basic right even to a motion to recommit; in other words, one alternative piece of legislation which, when we were in the majority, we wrote into the rules that the minority would have that right. And since the election last month, this majority has brought five, with this piece of legislation, five bills to the floor with a rule denying even that right to the minority--a motion to recommit.

The underlying legislation repealing the so-called Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy is important and should be considered carefully and thoroughly by all Members of this House. As a matter of fact, Madam Speaker, when I spoke on this issue on this House floor in May of this year, I said and I reiterate what I said at that time: Sexual preference should not even be a point of reference when judging individuals.

This is an important issue. Unfortunately, the congressional majority has not even held a hearing in the Armed Services Committee since the Pentagon released their findings of this recent survey. Members of the House on both sides of the aisle support our men and women in uniform. Ensuring the best equipment, improving quality of life for soldiers and their families, and doing everything we can to increase pay are issues of the utmost importance.

For 48 consecutive years, Congress has provided the necessary oversight by passing the Defense authorization bill always in a bipartisan manner. This record of effective congressional review is in jeopardy as we proceed along with what could be the final week of this Congress. I think the majority continues to give insufficient seriousness to even important issues such as this by closing the process.

The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not a policy decision to be taken lightly. The Defense Department, at the urging of Congress, spent 10 months collecting and analyzing survey responses from the men and women in our Armed Forces. I believe that analysis, nearly 15,000 pages in length, including the direct comments of our troops, should be the most important factor in considering this legislation, in considering how we vote on this legislation.

The Department of Defense released the results of their survey on November 30, just over 2 weeks ago. Now the majority is asking Congress to move forward in a manner that denies the committees of jurisdiction any review, that denies input from the membership of this House, that takes the product of the Speaker and the author of the legislation and forces the House to vote on it without any ability to offer alternatives, not even a motion to recommit.

I think we do a disservice to this body when we do not debate and deliberate with transparency. That lack of transparency has been standard procedure for the past 4 years. Obviously, we should not expect this congressional majority to change in its final weeks, but that will change in the next Congress.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to my friend from Georgia, Dr. Gingrey.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, with regard to this point of process, which I think is important, I think it is appropriate to point out the facts.

The majority is bringing this legislation to the floor by using another bill as a shell. The other bill is the Small Business Innovation Research Reauthorization bill, which has extraordinary bipartisan support. So the rule before us now strikes that legislation, which is job growth legislation--again, supported overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion in this House. It strikes that, and it inserts into that shell this legislation, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The Don't Ask, Don't Tell legislation is not germane to the underlying legislation, so it is anything but regular order.

The House Armed Services Committee has absolutely no jurisdiction over that Small Business bill which the majority is using as a shell to move this legislation out of regular order in order to prohibit transparency, even a motion to recommit. The majority has demonstrated time and time again its willingness to eliminate transparency, to void regular order and to take steps totally out of regular order as it is doing again today.

So I think this is important to put on the record because this legislation, which by the way is important, as I said before, I think deserves to be

treated with respect, consideration, and the membership of this House I think deserves to be listened to, to be heard on legislation, especially legislation which evidently is important, like the one we are discussing today.

I wanted to put that on the record.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I thank my friend from Maine for her courtesy and all who have come to the floor to debate this rule, and I reiterate, I think it's an important piece of legislation. I'm sorry that it was brought forth in an unnecessarily closed manner. I think the legislation deserves more respect, and I think especially the membership of this House deserves more respect.

I have, again, gratitude for all of my colleagues, and I thank them for having participated in this debate.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank my friend from Colorado (Mr. Polis) for the time.

I also thank him for his gracious words. He, in the short period of time that he has been here, has already left a mark with his thoughtfulness and his hard work, and really his conscience and compassion. He has left a mark on this Congress. And I know his constituents must be, and will continue to be, very proud to have sent him here because they have already seen the kind of Member of Congress that Jared Polis is. So I thank him for those kind words.

And I share with him the view that we have been able to work on some projects together, and my hope that we will be able to work in the future. And really my almost certainty that we will be able to work together in the future on important projects as well.

Mr. Speaker, as this, the 111th Congress, proceeds, it's in its final days evidently. The rule before us provides for expedited same day consideration for all legislation brought forward until December 18, and extends suspension authority for that period. It's really martial law rule because it closes down the process, does not allow Members of Congress to review legislation, to really know what legislation that will be considered is about. And in an historically unprecedented manner, it sets 11 days for this expedited consideration of legislation without necessarily showing legislation to colleagues before consideration.

The congressional majority and the Speaker have not fulfilled their 2006 campaign pledge to have, and I quote, ``The most honest, the most open, and the most ethical Congress in history.'' It was indeed needed reform at that time. But as we now know, it failed to materialize.

This majority admits, Mr. Speaker, with the rule before us today, it admits that it doesn't even pretend to care about fair process and transparency and the rights of the minority any more. The congressional majority feels no need to allow the public and all of our colleagues to read legislation before the House votes. The language before us allows bills to be considered the same day that they are ushered through the Rules Committee. The majority cares little for the ability of Members to have input in the form of amendments to vital, must-pass legislation that we will consider in the next days and weeks.

I think it's important to note, though I think it's unfortunate, that the House of Representatives has not considered even one open rule this Congress. And that would have been certainly something that I would not have expected. In my 18 years here, I have never seen this before, and did not expect it. This House has not considered even one open rule this Congress.

Now, we've come to expect that from the current majority. And so it's to be expected that the majority will have more martial law rules like the one before us in the days ahead. I think it's appropriate, I think it's good news that the Republicans, that we have made a pledge that I am confident will be kept. I am happy to report that very soon there will be significant and impactful course correction in the House of Representatives. The Members will be able to read legislation before they cast votes. Open rules will make a triumphant return to the House floor. All Representatives in this House will be able to contribute to the legislative process, bringing forth a chorus of ideas that have been suppressed during the last two Congresses. So that's good news. And that is one of the good things about renewal in politics and the democratic process.

Again I thank Mr. Polis for his courtesy, for his friendship, and all of my colleagues. As I said a few weeks ago, these have been an extraordinary 18 years, Mr. Speaker, the honor of my life. This is the Congress of the greatest Nation in the world. And it's a miracle. The United States of America is a miracle of freedom. And so as I leave this House, again I thank all of my colleagues for the honor of being able to have been able to serve with them, for the honor of having been able to serve with them, both those who have helped me, who have agreed with me and the causes that I have fought, and those who have opposed me. It's been an honor to serve with all of them.

At this point we have no further speakers, and so, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this rule, and to let this House return to openness a few weeks ahead of schedule.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

I thank my friend.

I think it's unfortunate the way that the majority leadership has treated this issue when, Mr. Speaker, you see that after bringing the stimulus and the cap-and-trade and the health care legislation and all of the political capital that the President and this majority leadership had has been exhausted; and after receiving that defeat at the polls, after all that they bring this legislation to the floor.

I think the process is most unfortunate. And the way in which they have handled this legislation, Mr. Speaker, shows the lack of interest that they have had in it. That doesn't negate, however, the fact that the legislation is extremely important. If there is anything that distinguishes the United States of America--I think in an appropriate and in an admirable way--it is that we are a meritocracy. You stand or you fall in the United States of America based on your own decisions, not the decisions of your parents or your grandparents or their grandparents. Your decisions determine your reputation in the United States of America.

So what we are dealing with in this legislation is who we are dealing with, number one, the kind of immigration that we work day in and day out to try to attract and retain in the United States, college-educated people who have become so after extraordinary hard work.

Secondly, Mr. Speaker, after thinking about what we are trying to do, it all boils down to the decisions. I referred previously to the fact that the United States is distinguished by the fact that the American people stand or fall based on our own decisions. What are the decisions that those students who we're dealing with in this legislation have made in their lives? They didn't make the decision to come to the United States out of status. The only decisions that they have made in their lives have been to work hard, to study hard, to make our communities proud. This legislation seeks to give them an opportunity to make their situation regular, normal so that they can contribute even more to the greatness of this Nation.

At the end of the day, despite the unfortunate process, we cannot stop thinking about who we are dealing with in this legislation. That is why I have been, for a decade, a sponsor or cosponsor of this legislation, and that is why I am proud to support it this evening. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.