This week the Chicago region suffered a devastating flood throughout the entire Chicago metropolitan area, particularly in the south suburbs and the southwestern suburbs which I represent; in fact, affecting hundreds if not thousands of…

I of course want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky, Chairman Rogers, for yielding me this time, and I rise in strong support of this bill. I also want to commend the bipartisan leadership in the subcommittee for producing a good bill…

let me tell my colleagues, we all came to Washington to change how Washington works, and one of the most basic, fundamental changes we need to bring, of course, is reforming our welfare system. Between 1965 and 1994, America's taxpayers…

Working families, the self-employed, flower shops on Main Street, the backbone of our society, the little guys and gals are being punished because one Member is filibustering legislation to provide health care reform and make health care…

I wish to commend my friend from Oklahoma and my friend from North Carolina for their leadership and their bipartisanship, the bipartisan spirit of this so very important resolution. This past Sunday I joined with a multidenominational…

I represent probably the most diverse district in the State of Illinois. I represent part of the city of Chicago and the south suburbs, industrial communities like Joliet, and Rockdale and La Salle, Peru, and many bedroom communities and…

I of course want to begin by commending the chairman of the subcommittee for his leadership and sincerity to bring about changes in bad policy and public housing. I also want to commend the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy] the…

Mr. Speaker, let us keep this issue real simple. This bill, as it is amended, rights a wrong, that jeopardizes the safety of my constituents, seniors living in senior housing. Today HUD bureaucrats say my seniors must live alongside…

I am pleased we were able to move the bill through the House and I am working with my Senators to ensure that the legislation moves quickly through the other body with bipartisan support. I would like to take a minute to speak briefly…

My Speaker, I would like to speak briefly about the importance of this legislation, H.R. 714, the Illinois Land Conservation Act, which has overwhelming bipartisan support from Members on both the Republican and Democrat side of the aisle…

for the past 3 weeks, I have been traveling around my district and the one message my constituents relayed was by keeping our promises through the Contract With America, the Republican majority is working to restore the long, lost faith…

the President never ceases to amaze me. He has this incredible habit of setting up these ridiculous straw men for the express purpose of making him look good when someone knocks them over. He has misled us on the issue of Social Security…

This crime problem in our country is out of control. I believe we must do everything we can to protect our children and our communities, and I believe that a combination of more police officers, more prison space, and longer sentences will…

I support and accept your amendment to our amendment. One of the reasons is I think of an example in the State of Illinois, in Will County, which is the largest county in my district, a county without a juvenile detention center. Of…

I rise today to honor former President Ronald Reagan. I am proud to have this opportunity to speak about our 40th president who was born 84 years ago, in my home State of Illinois. At the age of 9 his family moved from Topica and settled…

Today we will vote to add one more disciplinary tool to the budget and appropriations process, the line-item veto. Along with the balanced budget amendment, which we passed 2 weeks ago, the line-item veto will help bring fiscal sanity to…

Christmas might come just once a year to most people in the country, but up here in Washington, land of plenty, the legislative Christmas tree shines all year long. Why? Because Congress for years has been practicing pork barrel politics…

Well, you know, thank you. I would like very much to thank the gentleman from Texas for your hard-fought long effort historically to bring this initiative to the floor of the House for debate, and you have worked long and hard to bring a…

it is important that today we shed light on the scare tactics that are being used by some in the political arena to frighten America's senior citizens. Broadcasting false cuts in Social Security, these fearmongers are needlessly scaring…

I have received a good number of phone calls. I am glad I answered the phone. Because they were calling in support of the tax-limitation, balanced budget amendment and from those calls, and every one of them were from middle-class average…

last night this Chamber was treated to quite a speech. At times it sounded as though the President had finally heard the message that the American people sent last November. Americans want smaller government and less taxes. In fact, there…

You know, there is nothing I value more than hearing from the folks that I have the privilege of representing, and when I know that I get 10 phone calls from the taxpayers in my district, I recognize that they probably represent a total of…

But since debate on the floor began, it is clear the bill's opponents just do not get it. The supporters of unfunded mandates continue to argue that if there was no big brother, a Federal big brother, America's children would be subjected…

last week, Republicans began the passage of the contract with America. We are changing the way Congress does business, and we are changing the business Congress does. No longer will we pander to the big government, big bureaucracy…

I rise today to respond to the Democrats' call for specific cuts in the Federal budget. They well know that Republicans have pledged to consider all proposals except for Social Security. Their insistence is an effort to divert attention…