Christopher Shays

The amazing thing is you got the Democrat story all in one sentence, and it is all wrong. There is a $240 billion tax cut. About half of it is going to families with children. These are children under 18, a $500 tax cut.

What we did is we ended 40 years of one-party control. That was a system where the chairman became so dominant that even a rank and file Democrat had no power, even in the majority. I would wager to say a rank and file Democrat Member has…

there are a lot of factors here. First, let me say when we said how are we going to save Medicare, we have four basic choices. We can increase taxes, and that is the payroll tax of 1.45 percent, and if you are self-employed, it is 2.9…

I get up every morning and I just count my blessings for the opportunity to be a part of a Congress that is bringing about extraordinary change. There are people on this side of the aisle as well that have weighed in and have added their…

However, I think the gentleman was making another point. Americans have 2 years, and during those 2 years they can go into the private plan, the Medicare Plus plan, but if you decide you do not like it, it was not what you expected, you…

Incomes under $200,000. It may be that ultimately that number comes down, but 75 percent of all families make $75,000 or less, so 75 percent of the people who get this benefit make $75,000 or less than $75,000. Why would we want a $500 tax…

I have waited 20 years for the opportunity we have. I was a State legislator. I saw the Congress deficit spend. I served here 8 years. The gentleman from Louisiana has been here much longer. We have an incredible opportunity to get our…

I am not voting to increase the debt ceiling, but I am going to vote for increasing the debt ceiling when this President weights in on a 7-year budget, then the President decides with us where we make our changes in programs, where we cut…

That is well said. I was thinking as we were talking, making reference to people on the other side of the aisle, candidly that is not usually my way of feeling comfortable because there are a lot of good people on this side of the aisle…

I have been in public life for 20 years. I have served 13 years in the statehouse and now 8 years in Congress, but I was in the statehouse and I looked at Congress, an institution that I revered as someone who in high school and college…

we gave away cable franchises in the early 1970s and made millionaires out of cable franchise owners. In 1984, we deregulated and made billionaires out of these organizations. The argument that since deregulation bad things have happened…

competition, yes. Competition, yes. But now we do not have competition. Ninety-seven percent of all systems do not have competition. And this bill, unamended, allows for those companies, most of them, nearly 50 percent of them, to be…

I just want to be here tonight to say that the Peace Corps changed my life in an extraordinary way, as it did my wife, but I get my greatest satisfaction in thinking about what volunteers have done through the course of the past 30 years…

In Fiji, Mr. Solomon, the impact that Americans had during World War II had such an incredible result to the people of Fiji, because this was a British colony and yet the Americans went and just comfortably lived with the Fijians where…

When I was in the Peace Corps, one experience you are talking about, we were visiting with a whole number of villagers. We were landing on the moon. And I can remember the aura that my villagers had with the fact that Americans were on the…

Mr. Speaker, I think this motion to instruct is flawed. It could have been made a motion that I could have liked if it had said to lower some of the taxes, if it had said eliminate one or two of them, if it had said make one or two of them…

We are talking about AIDS research. My colleague is right in saying that we have spent a great deal of money on AIDS research, without the kind of payback we would like. We then talk about AIDS services and the Ryan White funds, to respond…

Mr. Chairman, 50 States, 50 different State laws affecting interstate commerce, and we have for so long allowed a tremendous ripoff. It blows my mind that we have tolerated this for so many years. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of Common…

I am speaking tonight on an issue that to me is extraordinarily important and that is getting our financial House in order. And I think in terms of this, what I have looked at as I have served now in Congress for 7 years and have been a…

It may be that the executive branch is your champion and my champion on this issue and that the judicial branch isn't. It could be a different court. It could be filled with different people. In response to the question, do I think all…

I rise in support of any legislation that would prevent the exploitation of children. I also rise in support of the unfunded mandate bill and in opposition to this amendment. I rise in opposition to this amendment because it simply is not…

If I could reclaim my time, Mr. Chairman, and I would be happy to ask for unanimous consent if we need more time, the point I would like to make, as someone who has sat on the Subcommittee on Employment and Housing of the Committee on…

I just want to rise and say that one of the things what has been fascinating about this debate is that we have learned a lot, I think, from each other during the course of the days that we have had what is truly an open rule. It is the…

I have waited 7 years to have the opportunity to vote and to speak on an unfunded mandate bill. I just have to thank the authors of this legislation, Mr. Clinger, Mr. Portman, Mr. Condit, for their work over a number of years. I thank them…

I want to just say very clearly that this is no one person's bill. I mean that very sincerely, because in fact there are more fingerprints on this bill from Members of both sides of the aisle. I would like to take this time first to thank…