Mr. President, I hope the American people are watching Washington right now. We are at a defining moment in our country. There is not anybody in this body who does not recognize that our country is on an unsustainable course. They know it…

I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business for the time I may consume, probably not longer than 20 or 25 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

I thank the chairman for yielding. I had not intended to speak on this particular issue, but I had the opportunity to hear my good friend from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) in debate recently, and I wanted to come down to the floor and correct a…

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this legislation, H.R. 3082, the continuing resolution. Among many other issues, I object to the inclusion of Senate language from S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act. Let me be clear: I believe…

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this rule on the continuing resolution. Mr. Speaker, among other things, I object to the inclusion of Senate language from S. 1510, the Food Safety Modernization Act. Let me be perfectly clear: I…

And I'm all for saying let's just not have any earmarks.

Our military is meant for one thing: to fight and win America's wars, not a social science laboratory.

I am not confident that we actually know what the impact on recruiting will be but any decrease will compound our ability to sustain the force.

A retention drop of 23 percent would be significant.

It is my opinion that this created a perception that the decision had been made from the President on down.

As I see it now, the policy approved in 1993 has worked and I do not see a need to change something that is not impacting our force.

the panel assessed that repeal of DADT poses a low risk to military effectiveness.

According to your report, 30 percent of those who turned in a survey said repealing DADT would have a negative impact on their ability to conduct their military mission.

Now is the wrong time to overturn DADT. As U.S. troops remain in the thick of war in Afghanistan, there is risk involved.

70 percent of military members think that repeal would have a positive, mixed, or no effect on unit effectiveness.

if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It has worked. I really believe it has worked.

This is not a social thing. This is combat effectiveness. That is what the country pays Marines to do.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, America is a great and a good country, but sometimes in its past it's made great and lamentable mistakes. H.R. 4783 offers this Congress the opportunity to correct some of the worst mistakes…