mr. speaker , i appreciate the gentleman 's concerns . 
the gentleman has raised two issues : one is process and one is substance . 
on the process side , the gentleman is correct . 
and the gentleman would have to ask the speaker about the process of bringing the rules to the floor in a bipartisan way . 
and i do not want to second-guess the speaker , and the gentleman may well have a good argument on process . 
but in the substance , the gentleman is correct . 
and i hope all members are watching this because they need to consider this very strongly , that the gentleman can not have it both ways . 
the gentleman wants a bipartisan process . 
the speaker was bringing a bipartisan process , which means that in order to proceed to an investigative subcommittee you would have to have a majority vote , which would be bipartisan , a bipartisan vote to proceed to the investigative committee . 
what some partisans had found , that if there was no agreement and charges brought against a member , the member would be hung out to dry . 
there would be no action , or there could be automatic action without a majority vote of the committee . 
that is the problem . 
that is what allows people to use it for partisan politics is that if one side or the other decides to deadlock the ethics committee , then the member that has been charged can be held out and held up for many days , if not months , before a resolution of that charge comes . 
the speaker came up with a way to make sure that the committee is bipartisan because it requires a bipartisan vote to move forward . 
the gentleman is suggesting that he would like to change , for the house and the rights of the members , something that is so different than the rules of procedures in courts of law . 
if a grand jury is deadlocked in an indictment , there is no process that goes forward . 
if there is a full jury in a trial that is deadlocked , there is no process that goes forward . 
it has to be clear , without a reasonable doubt , with no reasonable doubt that the offense is right and needs to proceed . 
and that is why the speaker created a bipartisan process for that to proceed . 
and it can work for both sides politically . 
it can work for democrats as well as republicans . 
and that is why i say the speaker was trying and worked very hard to protect the rights of the accused , and more important than that , the rights of each and every member of this house . 
