mr. speaker , as i listen to my republican colleagues talk about this rule , i understand why the republican leadership is bringing forward a closed rule , because if we had an open rule , we would end up with a very good bill that would do something about enforcing our laws against china . 
i listened to the gentleman from pennsylvania ( mr. english ) xz4001230 talk about this being the key trade vote of the year , and i think we should understand that the committee on rules is responsible to make sure that we have a fair and open debate by the manner in which they propose rules . 
there has never been an opportunity to offer a single amendment to this bill anywhere along the process , whether in the subcommittee , the full committee , or here on the floor . 
mr. speaker , i understand that trade promotional authority gives the right of the administration to submit a trade-negotiated bill to the congress after consultation and after a mock markup on an up-or-down vote . 
i just did not know that we had given the republican leadership the right to bring out any bill they wanted to with an up-or-down vote without having democracy work . 
that is what this rule represents , and it is shameful . 
the gentleman from pennsylvania ( mr. english ) xz4001230 talks about the tradition . 
the minority normally gets an opportunity to offer a substitute on a major bill . 
they do not even give us the right to offer a substitute . 
that is just wrong , and that is not a democratic process . 
let me just talk for a moment or two about substance . 
i heard my colleagues talk about the manipulation of currency by china . 
no action is taken in this legislation in that regard . 
china undervalues its currency between 15 to 40 percent . 
we know that . 
nothing is done in this bill to bring action against china for currency manipulation . 
another study by treasury ? 
excuse me , they just came back and told us there is no manipulation . 
what do we expect to get from that ? 
my friends talk about intellectual property . 
they are absolutely correct . 
china does not adhere to international standards on protecting intellectual property . 
no action is provided in this bill against china in regards to their infringement of intellectual property . 
my friends talk about the textile issues and the flooding of the market after the quotas were finished . 
we have certain safeguards . 
nothing is done in this legislation for action against china in regards to the flooding of markets . 
so what does this bill do ? 
does it deal with countervailing duties ? 
yes , it does . 
that is where we have illegally subsidized products coming into the u.s. market . 
but what does it do ? 
it provides some relief on one hand , but makes it more difficult on the other . 
it is hard to figure out whether it is a plus or a minus . 
then my friends talk about more money . 
it does not provide any more money . 
we have already done that through the appropriation bills . 
we do not need this bill to do it . 
there is nothing new in this bill . 
then my friends talked about other issues that are not in this bill . 
read the bill . 
we have missed an opportunity to deal with china by this rule . 
i hope we will listen to what the gentleman from the committee on rules is saying on the democratic side . 
give us a chance to have a full debate on china . 
that is the tradition of this body . 
