Sam Gibbons

we have a lot of work ahead of us as far as bringing the Chinese people and their government into the modern world. A lot of mistakes have been made in the past. As I see our mistakes, the biggest mistake we have ever made so far as…

Yes, things are bad in China. They have been worse. We preferred to ignore them, though, when they were worse, because we did not have to face them. I first went to China in the early 1970's. At that time it was perfectly obvious that we…

I support this rule. I had not wanted to use this much time to debate this rule but since we got into the merits of the bill, I think it is appropriate that someone who is connected with the bill since its inception explain the position of…

Mr. Speaker, the first speaker we had, Mr. Rangel, the last speaker we had, Ms. Velazquez, and the next speaker we have, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Gutierrez], point out something I think is very significant here. The first speaker…

Mr. Speaker, working Americans deserve tax relief, and I am glad to see that this bill takes needed steps in that direction. We have heard a lot in this Congress about encouraging work, a goal I strongly support, and I am happy to say that…

I support a repeal of the 4.3-cent gas tax, but I am disappointed in how the issue was approached. I had hoped that we would not only cut this tax but that we would assure the American people that any change in the tax would ensure that…

I gave the gentleman an opportunity to put it in the trust fund, and he said no.

Mr. Speaker, this is political pandering if I have ever seen it, and I have seen a lot of political pandering in my life. But this is about as bad as I have ever seen. Mr. Dole needed something to jump start his campaign so he poured a…

this issue today is not about balancing the budget. In fact, this issue that we are talking about really is a wish list. It is not a law. It never will become law. It is just a wish list that we put together to say that we are fulfilling…

I appreciate this every much. First I want to thank my colleague, Ms. Brown, for arranging this and her staff for doing all of this. I realize that many Members could not be here today and have submitted their remarks for the Record, for…

Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues think the current tax system is fair and equitable, then they will love this amendment. If they like the loopholes and tax giveaways in our Tax Code, they should embrace this constitutional amendment. Why…

Everybody in this Chamber and everybody within the sound of my voice knows that what we are doing tonight is show business; not very good show business, but show business. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which…

I just wondered if the gentleman had read it. He is arguing for a tax limitation by constitutional amendment. He sent us a chart listing all the other countries on Earth that have tax limitations. Every one of them has a higher tax rate…

Mr. Speaker, this bill needs to be adopted. I am not opposed to it. It is equivalent of a $62 billion debt increase for a period of only 2 weeks. Unfortunately, 28 percent of all the debt, Mr. Speaker, that we are talking about here is…

Mr. Speaker, I think the most interesting thing that we ought to be discussing here is how do you measure this debt and what impact does it have upon our society and our economy? I think the best measure of this debt is the ratio of the…

I reluctantly get up here and oppose most of my Florida colleagues and people who I think mean to be right but, unfortunately, their solution is wrong. Let me put it in some perspective. If my colleagues had come here 34 years ago, as I…

I would like to commend all the people in Bulgaria for what they have done. I do not think it is widely known here in the Congress or widely known throughout the world, but Bulgaria has modernized its revenue collection system, and has…

it is way past time we got rid of the sugar program. I am not going to make villains out of them. They are fine people. They are wonderful farmers, and they are very efficient farmers. But their complaints that they will be overridden by…

I think everyone knows that this particular resolution is going absolutely nowhere. It will go to the Senate, and they will never consider it. But I think we ought to tell the truth about what we are talking about. Balancing the budget in…

here we are, American people, at the 4th day of January, 1996, almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and what are we doing? We are talking. Mr. Speaker, in November a year ago the American people put the Republicans in charge of the U.S…

for those who are watching C-SPAN, they have been already treated to a part of the debate on Medicare and Medicaid. Why do we continue to harp on this subject? I want to first of all say that I have been on the Medicare program for 10…

I am just incredulously mystified by the arguments I hear here. As the gentleman from California said, I attended these meetings, even though I am not a member of the subcommittee. They were pabulum hearings. They had nothing to do with…

9 months ago the American public gave to the Republicans the opportunity to control this House of Representatives and the Senate. At that time the Republicans announced that they wanted to give very wealthy income taxpayers a huge tax…

I regret hearing the news about the death of Dr. Morgan. I was privileged to work with him and serve with him here, and he was a man of good common sense, and I feel that if he had been here today, he would be right where Mr. Hamilton is…

Keith Jewell has lived up to his name. He is really a jewel. I watched his entire career here in the House of Representatives and he has always done his job to perfection. I have never seen him without a smile and a willingness to be…