We had a mark-up in the Small Business Committee, and as ranking member, I had to be there.
Now back to his late appearance... do they have a list of speakers before hand? Sure sounds like Kerry waited until Obama started talking before he made his way over there for his 'grand entrance'.
(Inside-the-beltway Freepers, feel free to correct me). I think it is where higher ranking members of a committee meet and the two political parties agree or disagree on specific language regarding legislation being handled by their committee. And, in the course of doing so, these higher ranking members direct all the "goodies" in the legislation to the areas they represent.