Pete Stark

I rise today to oppose H.R. 1000, the Pension Security Act of 2003. This bill does protect pensions--for CEOs and business owners. This bill doesn't do a thing to secure pensions for the rank and file worker. The bill actually hurts the…

I rise today to oppose H.R. 2, which benefits only the wealthy among us. It is interesting as this bill becomes law my 2003 tax cut will be equal to my daughter's entire annual income as a fifth grade teacher in California, while she will…

I rise today to opposition to H.R. 1104, the Child Abduction Prevention Act. I am greatly troubled by this vote. I support the AMBER Alert program as a vital means to prevent child abduction and track down those who prey upon our children…

What is awesome about this day is we are going to war. Maybe that message we just got in here was the war message, I do not know, from the President, but Iraq is a country where 60 percent of the people get their food through the…

Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 975. This bankruptcy bill is touted as reform. But, it is actually a wolf in sheep's clothing intended to allow credit card companies and other lenders to gouge consumers when they are most…

last night, President Bush started the war against Iraq, a war that offends the vast majority of moral and religious groups in the world. Most major religious organizations, the Vatican, Muslim, Buddhists, Jewish, Protestant religious…

reducing medical errors is an important goal, and this legislation takes a small step in that direction. But don't be fooled by the rhetoric. While the legislation offers a glimmer of hope that action will be taken, it does nothing to…

I gladly recognize and congratulate President Ronald Reagan on his 92nd birthday. However, I voted present because I could not in good conscience support a resolution that goes beyond simply offering personal well wishes and endorses…

Today, I rise to express my grave concerns with the content of the resolution condemning the election of Libya to chair the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. I abhor Libya's human rights record. I don't agree with Libya's…

I suspect that many people will vote for this bill, but it cannot go unnoticed that the bill does not do nearly enough. It is a day late and a dollar short. It does not really improve Medicare and deal with many of the providers. It merely…

It is the least we can do, and it is a modest bill. We could do better. We should do better. We have never had a modest tax cut coming from the other side of the aisle. It is only modest when we try to help the least fortunate among us. So…

I continue to suggest that this is a waste of money. Three and a half million or more people have long-term care, they will get no benefit from this. In its final year we will spend $561 million to get 100,000 people more in. That is a…

This bill is, at best, unnecessary, and, at worst, it is a wasteful expenditure of $5.5 billion, which will accomplish very little except add to the repeated Republican program of giving huge benefits to the wealthy and doing very little…

The principal issue is that a joint committee with the long record of serving on a bipartisan, bicameral nature should not selectively withhold information from Members. I rather suspect that the rules of the House give any Member of the…

reclaiming my time, as I say, that may very well be the solution to the gentleman's concern, that if Members were able to look at wherever the product is, it might satisfy the concerns that if there is something secret and untoward being…

Mr. Speaker, I would explain, when one sells out to the insurance industry, we get the Republican bill. They free up any resources that go to the Hartford Insurance Companies. The truth is that the average senior in this country spends…

This is a bad bill because there is no assured benefits and there is no set premiums because the Republicans are privatizing Medicare. They are giving this whole benefit to the private insurance companies. Now you have to remember that the…

let us understand and cut through all this nonsense about small businesses and small farms. Many of us in this Congress pay a lot of income tax. I do. I have been very fortunate. My children will perhaps inherit from me when I pass on…

Admittedly, this bill will encourage more plans. The best way to encourage plans is to have no restriction on them at all, and then the very rich will have plans, but they will not cover the employees. Professor Halperin at the Harvard Law…

Mr. Chairman, here we are for round three of the shell game. This is Humphrey-Hawkins, and we are supposed to be talking about employment. We have got people who are getting off welfare, right? We have got all these women, we want them to…

However, the budget before us is not one of which either of those gentlemen would be proud. Rather than leading us down an economic path of balanced growth and full employment, the budget before us today is nothing more than a political…

Mr. Chairman, there are some of us who remember this world in the 1930s, when Hitler suspended the Bundestag to promulgate conservative ideology and not let people speak. It is a shame that the Republicans in the House, Mr. Chairman, have…

I understand what is behind this. I am not a lawyer, I will never be a judge, but this is really the Republicans' attempt to prevent themselves from being sued as a party under a class action under RICO by the 42 million beneficiaries of…

I oppose H. Con. Res. 312, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the scheduled tax relief provided for by H.R. 1836, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, should not be suspended or repealed. I…

as dean of the California delegation, I often wonder what it gets one besides old age and the infirmities that come with that, but I must say that it is a great pleasure today as dean because I have the honor to recognize officially the…