Colleagues, we have a decision to make.
My sense that this is going to be a debate that will extend for some time. The motion had nothing to do with whether or not we would hear from Mr. Rodriguez today. It had everything to do with if or not we would report back to the House the absence of the witnesses whom the House had instructed us to hear from today.
The question that I have for committee members, out of respect for Mr. Rodriguez and the fact that he now only has two and a half hours left for his appearance, is whether we would allow him to speak and we would get back to the motion at hand following his testimony.
I think I'm getting a sense from members that this is the way they'd like to proceed.
Mr. Fergus, I understand that you would not like to proceed that way, but—