“With all that is going on this week with the coronavirus, Democrats have still found time for their favorite pastime: voting on partisan legislation that would make our country weaker.
“Democrats could not have picked a worse week to try to undermine American travel restrictions. President Trump’s quick decision to restrict travel to countries like Iran and China was a smart response and it is helping keep America safe.
“The President’s actions — then and now — are clearly within his rights. But today… Democrats want to take those [rights] away.
“For the second time this Congress, the House is considering two important pieces of legislation by attaching them to a completely unrelated shell vehicle — thereby preventing the minority from offering a motion to recommit…
“Democrat Leadership is once again choosing to restrict debate on an issue of national security. It is not only that this is bad for America, it is bad for the tradition of fairness and free debate that Democrats promised to uphold…
“The right that Democrats want to take away is an important right — maybe one of the most important in Congress. It is the last chance for the minority party to offer amendments on legislation. It’s called the motion to recommit…
“[Motions to recommit] not only promote full and thorough deliberation, they also improve legislation. 6 out of 60 [motions to recommit] have been adopted this Congress… That means a bipartisan majority of the House felt the need to improve 10 percent of the bills put forward on which we offered [motions to recommit]…
“Republicans never even considered taking away the Motion to Recommit because we believe in minority rights and the traditions of this institution in which we are privileged to serve. I wish I could say the same for this new Democrat majority.”