Pete Stark

I rise to remember and honor my friend and distinguished former colleague Bill Lehman. Bill Lehman represented South Florida in the House of Representatives for twenty years beginning in 1972. Bill and I came to Congress together that…

I'm starting to wonder if the Republican Majority was listening to the President when he called for the United States to act as a beacon of freedom for the world. For our first substantive legislation of the year, they would make it nearly…

I rise to oppose H. Con. Res. 6, a resolution expressing, the sense of Congress that the Department of Defense should continue to exercise its statutory authority to support the activities of the Boy Scouts of America. I do not oppose the…

as the dean of the California delegation, I offer this privileged resolution expressing the profound sorrow of all of us within the House of Representatives at Bob Matsui's passing. I am honored to sponsor this resolution in an attempt to…

I might be somewhat morally indignant. And I really think it is up to individual Members how they choose to vote on this bill. But I do think the bill clearly defines the Republican Party and it clearly defines the difference, and it…

Mr. Chairman, this is probably the lowest-priced amendment to be offered to this bill, but what it does basically is takes away $84,500 from the Secretary of HHS's management budget. The purpose of the amendment is to establish firmly the…

I rather suspect that the laws that were violated were written by the Republican Party when it was in the minority, and I do not think it is an issue that is partisan. I really believe this is an issue that does not deal with anything…

time sure flies when you're having fun. Just last week I expressed serious misgivings about the U.S.-Australian Free Trade Agreement (FTA), noting, among other problems, that it set a bad precedent for future trade bills. Those concerns…

I rise in outraged opposition to H.R. 3313, the So-Called ``Marriage Protection Act.'' This blatantly unconstitutional piece of legislation speaks volumes about the uncontrollable homophobia of the Republican Party and its desperation to…

I really meant to talk about celebrating the 35th anniversary of Apollo 11, but I can see that my distinguished colleague from California was there with me. I thought we were really talking about accounting, and we are talking about H.R…

I rise today in strident opposition to H.R. 4520 the so-called ``Jobs Creation Act.'' This bill is a sham and a disgrace--and everybody knows it. Repealing the extraterritorial income (ETI) regime is absolutely necessary to avoid…

I rise today to support Representative Susan Davis' amendment to the Defense Authorization bill to repeal the complete abortion ban for women in the military. This amendment is a reasonable compromise. It would not require the U.S…

I rise today to oppose H.R. 4275, the reckless Republican bill permanently extending the 10 percent individual income tax bracket, and in support of the Democratic substitute that provides real, fiscally sound relief for middle-class…

My belief is these two tax provisions, modest as they are, regardless of the underlying bill, are good tax policy and ought to be considered if for no other reason than that they correct some serious inequities in our Tax Code which have…

Actually, I am opposed to it in general, but I offer to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery) that we would accept that if he would pay for half of the bill. That is compromise.

Our Democratic substitute addresses a real issue of concern with respect to flexible spending accounts in the use-it-or-lose-it rule. We agree with the author of this legislation that it is unwise to create an incentive for people to spend…

I wish we had a domestic President who would occasionally think about what needs to be done on the domestic scene. This particular little bill is what they are going to hold out for their evidence that they care about domestic health…

I believe that the Enron employee would not have insurance. He would have some money in that health savings account, but when Enron folded up, the insurance went along with Enron. He could go into the private market and try and buy…

it is kind of sad that this bill was not worked out in committee because the differences, which I will describe shortly, are simple and there could have been a compromise, it appears to me, and certainly we have a substitute which will…

during the past several hours we have had a good debate on this bill, and I think we have agreed to some of the basic principles that the flexible savings accounts should allow a reduction of the use-it-or-lose-it rule. We had attempted to…

I rise to vote no on this resolution. It is right to condemn the brutal and abhorrent abuse of Iraqi prisoners. But, this resolution is not strong enough. Without language authorizing a full-fledged Congressional investigation into this…

We are still in a deep hole and we can't really talk about a jobs recovery until we see robust job creation for several months.

I hope, Chairman Greenspan, that you will be able to reassure us that the Fed is committed to getting the economy back to full employment as quickly as possible, and avoiding the danger of fighting phantom inflation.

I am in support of the Guardsman and Reservists Financial Relief Act. The courageous Americans serving in harms way should not be forced to suffer for their services through unnecessary financial hardship. This legislation would allow…

We haven't seen such persistent job loss since the 1930s.