Steve Southerland

The numbers don't lie. America's welfare system is broken. Food stamp benefits have tripled in the past decade. There are more Americans living in poverty today than when the war on poverty was launched a half century ago. Instead of…

1,700 days and counting: that's how long it's been since the application to build the Keystone XL pipeline was submitted to the State Department. And with each passing day, every new delay, job creation has been stalled and American energy…

It's tax week. As you know, that means that Americans' heads are chock-full of all kinds of numbers. We've done all kinds of itemizations, deductions, and calculations in our personal finances just to make sure that we know how much we are…

I think you mean well, and I think you are a very nice man. And I feel sorry that you have to step before us today and tote the water for an Administration who just doesn't get it.

These people don't want a handout, they want a future. This is sinful, and it is so aggravating to me.

They want to control their future. They want to take ownership. They don't want you to control their future.

Quit talking about it and show us. Let our people work.

I thank Mr. Chairman for yielding me time this afternoon. I am proudly standing here as an original cosponsor of this bill, H.R. 890. I think today gives us an opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to speak with clarity and say once and for all…

we cannot increase taxes on hardworking families that are making their living fishing, and yet we have the ability to go out and remove reefs with explosives that kill tens of thousands of fish

By direction of the Republican Conference, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 82 Resolved, That the following named Members be, and are hereby…

one of the things that seems--in trying to solve, I guess, perceived problems, so often times the Federal Government just creates bigger problems.

In this country you are innocent until you are proven guilty.

This appears to me, Mr. Chairman, to be a solution looking for a problem.

A government big enough to meet all of your needs is a government big enough to take everything you own.

the EPA, for example, does not have the burden of proof. And they are absolutely, in my opinion, the greatest threat to free enterprise in America today.

We are the victims of endemic seafood fraud, and more must be done to combat instances of our catch being undermined in restaurants and on supermarket shelves by cheap and inferior product.

My sincere hope is that the enthusiasm some members of this committee have shown for engaging on questions of fisheries management may evolve into a sustained commitment to forging policies in Congress that promote healthy fisheries…

And I think to ask what the economic impacts are before we push these regulations over on someone, I think that is a fair expectation.

I think that it is imperative that men and women who work hard and cannot afford to buy a $1,000 plane ticket and come to Washington, D.C., with $500 a night hotel rooms, and eating $100 meals in restaurants and being away from their…

We need some 'flexibility' in our federal fisheries law . . . there are no deadlines in nature; the last thing we need is to mandate unnatural timelines for rebuilding fisheries.

We're not an industry that's looking for handouts--we're only asking for a hand, to protect our coastal heritage and traditions while fostering sustainable Gulf fisheries for generations to come.

It seems to be incredibly inconsistent and what I am worried about is that this inconsistency of acknowledging truth is crushing you.

We have to make good decisions with good data.

We are having to impose highly draconian restrictions upon the ability of our citizens to catch fish, recreationally or commercially.

the new sector separation schemes and 'individual catch shares' for Gulf of Mexico fisheries is not an answer, it's an agenda, and it will forever change the face of our local community in a way that is not at all what's good for Florida…