mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume , and as i prepare to yield to my friend from moore , oklahoma ( mr. cole ) xz4000770 , i want to say to my good friend from massachusetts that it is very clear that members of the united states house of representatives do have the ability to deal with a disaster and at the same time engage in a very , very important investigatory process . 
it is also very important to note that this is not going to simply be republicans asking questions of other republicans . 
as i said earlier , and i know my friend from rochester raised this when she said it was nice of me to say that democrats would have the opportunity to ask questions , but we know that democrats , by virtue of this being a bipartisan committee , will be able to be deeply involved and engaged in this process as well . 
once again , i think it is important to note , as my colleague and friend from west virginia said , that we are the elected representatives of the american people and this is our constitutionally mandated responsibility which we should not pass on to someone else . 
mr. speaker , i yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from oklahoma ( mr. cole ) xz4000770 , a hard-working member of the committee on rules . 
