I think that it yields better policy when all of us work together and hash things out on the floor and can move forward with something that is productive for the entire Nation. The virtues of this legislation are well known to Members on…

I just rise to point out to the Members that we are here to modernize the FISA bill of 1978, and I ask Members to think about all of the changes in sophistication and accessibility of communication devices today. Think about your own…

it is my desire to bring this focus back to the issue at hand and bring something of a commonsense approach to this. We are trying to modernize the FISA Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Since 1978, there has been a…

Madam Speaker, we need to get the boots on the ground to secure our borders, the money for 1,200 new Border Patrol agents, new Customs officials, and the modernization and authorization for our intelligence and law enforcement officials to…

I am pleased to bring to this floor House Resolution 1052. The resolution is a rule that provides for consideration of H.R. 5825, the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act. H.R. 5825 relates to the manner in which the Federal…

I remind the gentleman again that the House had an opportunity to pass a minimum wage bill, and we passed it over the objections of the other side of the aisle. We passed it.

I think the gentleman protests too much because he failed to acknowledge that he had an opportunity to vote on the minimum wage on this floor in this body. He had an opportunity to vote to extend tax credits for research and development…

I thank the Speaker, and I would inform my friend from Florida that I have no further speakers and we prepared to close as well.

House Resolution 886 is the rule that provides for debate of H.R. 4890, the Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 2006. As a member of both the Rules Committee and the Budget Committee, the two committees of jurisdiction for the underlying…

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to my friend from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry). Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Florida for yielding this time to me. This is a very important bill offered by my colleague from Wisconsin (Mr…

I am pleased to follow my good friend, Coach Osborne, to also address the malignment of our Speaker of this great House. No one cares more about the institution of this House than Denny Hastert. No one believes in the integrity of this…

on rollcall No. 194 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution. The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes…

We appreciate that. Obviously, the Wildlife Grant Fund is something that is a formula-driven process and was an imperfect vehicle, but we certainly wanted to take this opportunity to make the important case for doing everything we can to…

I say to my friends again, we agree on the technology having been improved. We agree on the need for a comprehensive solution. But you all agree with us that 3 miles is too close. If that is the case, let's adopt this amendment and do this…

I reserve my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).

House Resolution 817 is the rule that provides for debate on House Concurrent Resolution 376, which is the Federal budget, the bill that establishes the Federal spending priorities for the United States Government for fiscal year 2007, and…

the gentlewoman raised the issue of education funding. I would point out that the facts are a bit counter to her assertion. Take special education, something that has long been a priority of both sides of the aisle. Special education…

House Resolution 815 is a same-day rule that waives clause 6(a) of rule XIII, which requires a two-thirds vote to consider a rule on the same day it is reported from the Rules Committee against certain resolutions reported from the Rules…

There have been three references to a Blue Dog substitute that is mythical. It is as mythical as the $727 billion tax gap, Wizard of Oz smoke and mirrors that is in one of the other substitutes. It is as mythical as the numbers that they…

reclaiming my time to answer the gentleman's question, I would answer the question with a question, which is how does the gentleman feel about the fact that 40 percent of American taxpayers end up with no tax liability, and the fact that…

Well, Mr. Speaker, I think it is pretty clear we made our point. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 1845 Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I rise to make two clarifications. One, to my friend from Massachusetts, I would clarify that the rule he seeks to repeal is commonly known as the Gephardt rule. Secondarily, I would clarify the clarification made by my friend Mr. Spratt…

We like to give credit where credit is due, and being big fans of intellectual property rights, since we protect intellectual property, the real creative genius in that belongs to Mr. Gephardt. To my friend from Massachusetts, we have had…

I would ask the gentleman where the Blue Dog budget is? Where is the Blue Dog substitute amendment? We are looking for it. We can't find it. There is no Blue Dog substitute amendment. It is back on the porch. It is in the pound. It is in…

reclaiming my time, this negotiation, this process that yields this budget, recognizes that we have a number of challenges at this point in time, and all points of view recognize that we have to create an environment, a climate for…