mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from california ( chairman dreier ) , the gentleman from texas ( mr. sessions ) xz4003670 , and the leadership for bringing forth what i believe is a fair rule . 
one way we are going to tell it is a fair rule is because people who do not like certain amendments being made in order from certain committees will object . 
this has been a very difficult process , and as the committee on rules along with the gentleman from california ( mr. cox ) xz4000830 , the chairman of our permanent select committee on homeland security on which i also serve , this has been an incredibly difficult process from the time this committee has been organized . 
the american people want to see action on homeland security . 
they do not want to hear about congress ' jurisdictional fights , how we believe we have this in this committee and this in this committee , and therefore we are immobilized in congress . 
yet at the same time there are practical reasons , and let me illustrate a few of my own concerns and how i approach this amendment process . 
mr. speaker , i had four amendments . 
two were made in order , and arguably the two most important were not . 
i withdrew them in front of the committee on rules after talking with the gentleman from california ( mr. cox ) xz4000830 and the other relevant committees . 
it shows the dilemma we face . 
one of them is to merge the border protection agency and ice inside homeland security . 
it is a system that is not working . 
this is not a commentary on the gentleman from ohio ( mr. boehner ) xz4000360 , who is doing the best he can with an organizational nightmare as we blend these things together . 
but in fact , the challenge here of inland immigration is somewhat a different problem , as is deportation , from the border question as it relates to homeland security . 
so obviously the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner ) xz4003650 has deep concerns , and we have to figure out what is going to be under the committee on homeland security and what is under the committee on the judiciary . 
similarly , a second amendment i had on intelligence that is trying to coordinate this proliferation of intelligence agencies , and we seem to create a new one every 6 months , both in congress and in the administration , one or the other of us , and we are getting all this stovepiping and no coordination which is exactly opposite of what the 9/11 commission proposed . 
i had an amendment to propose consolidating inside homeland security . 
but guess what , the funding for that comes from several different committees . 
we could have probably worked this out . 
i want to continue to work on this . 
it has passed the house , but the question is what falls under the committee on homeland security and what falls under defense and intelligence committees . 
these things are not easy to work out . 
i believe this rule , by allowing 25 amendments , is clearly identifying the direction of the house . 
this is the primary committee on homeland security . 
where it clearly falls under homeland security , these amendments need to be in order and this committee needs the authority to address it . 
i thank the gentleman from california ( mr. dreier ) xz4001150 and the leadership for letting this expand . 
today is a skinny bill . 
there are other things we could have done , but it is important to set the precedent . 
every year we are going to have an authorization bill on homeland security , like the other committees , and i am sure that will be spoken to multiple times today . 
this rule illustrates the difficulty . 
many members are very frustrated that they did not get their amendments in order . 
i am frustrated that i did not get two of mine in order , but this is a complicated process . 
today is the first step and the committee on rules has made an important first step in allowing 25 amendments , many over the objections of people who are objecting to jurisdiction , and keeping enough out that we can keep a coalition together to show the american people we want to move homeland security bills and this house will not be held up by jurisdictional fights over homeland security . 
our goal is to protect the american people and not fight over our committee jurisdictions . 
