WALLY HERGER

Mr. Chairman, just to respond, it is important that we move now. We had more than 20 hearings on this legislation last year. The legislation actually expired September 30 of 2002. We are now 6 months on life support. The gentleman from…

I rise in support of H.R. 5063, as amended. This bill would temporarily extend unemployment benefits for an additional 5 weeks. It also will extend the funding and rules for the Nation's welfare reform program through March 31, 2003…

if it were not for this continuing resolution, the greatly successful 1996 welfare reforms would expire just 4 days from now. What makes this prolonged lack of action so frustrating is that welfare reform has helped literally millions of…

4 months ago the House passed a 5-year welfare reform extension bill. Yet now, just 11 days remain before the successful Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program expires. The 1996 law lifted nearly 3 million children from poverty. It…

the lease land program is a perfect example of how wildlife and agriculture can thrive together. Congress recognized that balance and specifically afforded farming a special status in the national wildlife refuges of the Klamath Basin. The…

This is a report from the same Congressional Budget Office dated May 13, 2002. CBO says the TANF grant program, which is the subject of this bill, affords States broad flexibility to determine eligibility for benefits and to structure the…

I am honored to be part of the effort to strengthen the historic 1996 welfare reform law, TANF, or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Since 1996, nearly 3 million children have been lifted from poverty. Nine million citizens have left…

each of us remembers last summer's dramatic national headlines about the several Federal biologists who turned off 100 percent of the water to hundreds of family farmers in the Klamath Basin of northern California and southern Oregon and…

this is without a doubt one of the most important votes any of us will cast this Congress. Today we are deciding whether or not we will give American workers and American companies the support they need to open international markets…

H.R. 3090, the economic stimulus package, includes significant new funds to support unemployed workers and their families between jobs. This legislation provides $9 billion in surplus Federal unemployment funds to every State. States can…

Mr. Chairman, I offer this important amendment today on an issue that is receiving national attention. Approximately 1,500 family farmers and scores of agriculture-dependent businesses and families along the northern California and…

I wish to underscore that this was caused at least in part by the National Marine Fisheries Service. It is a government-caused disaster. Mr. Chairman, fairness and justice demand that the Federal Government be accountable for the harm that…

we have an energy crisis. Eight years of Clinton-Gore no-growth energy and Federal environmental policies have left us facing frequent shortages. In my home State of California, the population has grown by 4 million people over 10 years…

a government-caused disaster is bankrupting an entire farming community in the Klamath Basin of Northern California. Families are being told simply that there is zero water for farming this year. It is an unspeakable tragedy and an…

Mr. Speaker, Americans are taxed all their lives: when they get a job; when they are married; and yes, even when they die. Today we are considering legislation to end the destructive death tax once and for all. The death tax is wrong and…

I rise in support of H.R. 3, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2001. This legislation will provide real tax relief for American families at a time when it is urgently needed. Simply put, Americans are overtaxed considering that…

I say to the chairman, as this is the last bill that will be considered by the House under his chairmanship, I want to thank him for helping to bring this important legislation to the floor and for all he has done to improve the Tax Code…

our efforts to reduce public debt and protect the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds are being held hostage by the Clinton-Gore administration. It has been 36 days since Congress proposed locking away Social Security and Medicare…

29 days ago, this Congress sent President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore a proposal to lock away 100 percent of the Social Security and Medicare surpluses and dedicate at least 90 percent of the total budget surplus for debt reduction…

today is day 23 of the debt reduction held hostage by the Clinton-Gore administration. It has been 23 days since Congress proposed to lock away 100 percent of the Social Security and Medicare surpluses and dedicate at least 90 percent of…

That is right; he only spends one-third of the surplus, the rest is for paying down the debt further and for perhaps some tax relief and some other good things.

There are only certain numbers I think that really count. That is the results that we are doing. If we look again over the 40 years that the gentleman's party was in control, the Democrats, we spent more than we brought in each of those 40…

Again what is important, I think history is important, what did happen, what are the actual facts. Again as we see on this chart here, for 40 years, the Congress where the Constitution sets up that the Congress, the House of…

We can make debt reduction the priority instead of the afterthought. This Congress can throw away the old ways of paying debt only after the spending is done. We are also reaffirming our commitment to saving every penny of the Social…

150 years ago this past Saturday the state of California entered into the Union. I rise today to commemorate this anniversary, and to celebrate the resources and treasures of the 2nd congressional district. Historically, the great state of…