Eleanor Holmes Norton

I want to thank the chairman of the full committee for his generosity. I want to thank my friends on both sides of the committee for their assistance with H.R. 3902, especially the chairman of the full committee, my good friend, Mr. Issa…

I thank the chairman again for the haste with which he was able to get this bill heard today. I have no further speakers, and I am pleased to yield back the remainder of my time.

You would think Congress would be all over that as much as we want to save funds.

If you believe the Government does a great deal of good, as I think the American people really do, you want it managed very well, and every time something comes out, it is being poorly managed.

I certainly do not want to undermine the confidence of the American people in their water supply.

I think the people who are going to buy this, first and foremost, are people who have children under 18.

I do not think we should undermine confidence in our water supply.

I drink the water even though I do not know if there are antibiotics in it.

It is certainly true that the surface transportation bill which had to be pulled even though people do express real interest in roads and transit, it had to be pulled here and hopefully will come back.

Let me put it this way. We have at least 33 States at last count who were in the same position that the District of Columbia that I represent is in.

But essentially, Mr. Dodaro, this is a management responsibility.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, this bill is a tragic exercise. It's a waste of time, and here's why. This is probably the only chance for a jobs bill this year, but it destroys almost 600,000 jobs. This bill is the only…

I would like to take a stab at building on the violent agreement among you to see if we can model it for this committee.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding. And I think, Mr. Speaker, in the next several days and weeks you're going to see people come forward to speak up for the silent majority in this controversy about contraception and what institutions…

The party line from Republican leaders is that Republicans agree on a payroll tax cut holiday; they just need to find a way to pay for it. But Republican Members speak a different language. Georgia Republican Paul Broun told the press…

This hearing needs to be seen in its full context of what is happening in this country with respect to the right to organize.

Today, a worker essentially in this country can, has to take what he can get and a huge income gap has opened up that is shameful.

The majority can entitle this hearing the right to choose and protecting union workers, but this majority will never be regarded as a champion, much less a protector, of workers in the long struggle for collective bargaining rights.

Ever since the Taft-Hartley law, there have been a plethora of laws to protect the right not to join a union.

Well, I don't agree that we're past the midnight hour, but I agree that we're past the point of no return. The gentleman wanted to talk about cost. This bill costs $68 million, a great deal more than another bill that I do support, the…

I will take such time as I may require. I wish that the chairman--he and I have had a very cordial and an amicable relationship. I only wish that he could guarantee that my amendments would, in fact, pass. I'm afraid that, watching his…

I want the bill you and I agreed upon, Mr. Chairman, and that was the bill that had NEPA in it and that had homeless in it. And let me ask you, why did you come forward with an amendment that only has the homeless in it, that is the exact…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, Washington is the headquarters of the Congress. It is not the headquarters of Federal employees. Eighty-five percent of them live in other cities and in towns and suburbs. Let's all agree…

Precisely because there have been two almost automatic freezes with no hearings, it is time to send this bill to the committee to determine what is fair for Federal employees. Have they contributed enough or, using my standard, leadership…

I think the public would have expected that we would have begun to talk about remedy by this time;