It is with very mixed emotions that I come to the floor today to oppose the rule that we are debating at the moment. As you heard the other speaker say, the underlying substantive legislation is legislation that really needs to be passed…

I want to cite some statistics to you. Of course, I already talked about one, in 1992 this country had a deficit of $290 billion, deficit, annual deficit. That was the largest at that time in the history of the Nation. By the year 2000, we…

I know that the viewers can see the passion that exists within Congressman Baron Hill. He is a great Member of Congress. He is a good leader of the Blue Dogs. I am happy to serve with him and to call him my colleague. He has explained what…

The people watching us out in the country tonight understand that they have to balance their budgets in their own households. They have to balance their budgets in their own small businesses. They can't spend more money than they take in…

Mr. Speaker, we live in the greatest and richest Nation on the face of the Earth. We have 5 percent of the world's population and control 25 percent of the world's wealth. If we are not careful and with poor fiscal management, we will…

Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, the last GI Bill was written after World War II, and 64 years later we're passing a new expanded GI Bill that will provide important education benefits for our veterans. Simply put, ladies and gentlemen…

this bill was brought to the floor in a fiscally responsible manner. By fully funding this GI Bill for the next 10 years and paying for it up front, we have made this legislation better for our veterans and better for the American people…

Let me tell you, this budget does not raise taxes. The independent, nonpartisan groups outside of this body say that. Listen to them. They certainly would come at this in an objective manner. What this budget does do is it sticks to the…

And let's be clear that the passage of this suspension of the rules abandons our commitment to fiscal responsibility and waives the PAYGO rules that were put in place by this Democratic majority back in January. And the blame lays squarely…

The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest of Florida's three national forests. It contains 564,000 acres, and its rivers and streams provide a steady freshwater flow to some of the most productive coastal bays and estuaries known for…

Let's be very clear. I think it is well understood by the country, the fiscal recklessness of the period, the 6-year period from January 2001 to January 2007, a recklessness which included record spending levels at the same time revenues…

I thank my friend, Madam Speaker, for yielding, and it is a great privilege to join my Blue Dog colleagues here on the House floor to talk about these issues that are of such great import to the American people and to the children of…

I'm very pleased that the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Lincoln Davis) was here earlier talking about the 1990s and how we extracted ourselves from a fiscal mess where we were experiencing huge and systemic annual deficits, and how this…

I think the point is not lost on many of us that we are the greatest Nation on the face of the Earth. We have the greatest economy on the face of the Earth. This is a country that, with 5 percent of the world's population, Mr. Speaker…

For 10 years now I have been in the Congress, and for all of those years, and specifically the last 6 years, the Blue Dogs have been taking to this very floor almost on a weekly basis to discuss this issue of deficit spending. For those…

I think the gentleman has ripped off the first four, and actually number 5 is have Congress tell taxpayers how much they are spending. That seems like a novel idea, that we would let the public know how much of their taxpayer dollars we…

She has a challenge to put the genie back in the bottle here and get everybody back together.

Well, I think the caucus, Dana, is fractured now, not because of the race, but because of speaker-elect Pelosi's heavy involvement in the race.

Today, I ask for your prayers and support for my constituents whose lives have been turned upside down by this evil plot.

I am proud to honor this American hero.

crop protection tools are necessary for family farmers to provide a safe and reliable food supply to the consumer

I urge my colleagues to support this very important legislation.