I do respect my colleagues from California. We have had a lot of differences in agreement this year. The statement was made, the only place you can address prices is here. That is the difference in ideology. The market sets the prices…

Allowing California to be exempt from the requirements of the Clean Air Act by allowing them to opt out of the reformulated gasoline program will not only have detrimental impacts on the State of California, but the rest of the country as…

many of us just came out of a meeting with the President, and after the meeting he was asked about this issue. He is conflicted. It is a difficult decision on stem cell research. He is not polling. I reject any argument that that has been…

I have a lot of good friends on both sides of the aisle that are addressing this issue, and I really get concerned and I struggle with this. Southern Illinois used to have one of the largest oil fields in the country 50 years ago, decades…

to my colleagues out West, I want to remind them the best way to get to a most efficient market is allow the market to work. If this country wants low-cost, reliable electricity, we must have a diverse energy portfolio. We must have coal…

Rallies in support of NATO membership. First, I want to show some photos of times that I remember. My involvement with NATO goes back as a young second lieutenant on the German border with Czechoslovakia serving in defense of freedom under…

Mr. Speaker, another photo is what we touched on earlier, and it actually represents the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. And it says, the Pact of Molotov-Ribbentrop is our past; NATO is our future. I think what I have enjoyed about this brief…

I just want to highlight the bipartisan aspect of the resolution: 25 Republicans, 15 Democrats. I want to also mention the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich), who is the co-chair of the House Baltic Caucus highlighting that point. And just…

I, too, was impressed by our subsequent visit to Bulgaria for the reasons that the gentleman from Nebraska mentioned. Their ability to help unite our allies and work with both Greece and Turkey and the stabilizing force that they do…

if I may just add, the relationship has only been strengthened in Lithuania, especially with the Kaliningrad area in that there is normal everyday discussions of transportation of goods and material to the enclave there in Kaliningrad, and…

The decision rendered by the EPA today on the California waiver request was a major victory for a couple of reasons. One, it is just a simple great victory for clean air. The Clean Air Act that was enacted into law in 1992 has had a…

Madam Speaker, I want to mention that the Pages on a daily basis live, work, and go to school here at the Capitol. Their day begins with school, starting at 6:45 a.m., and ends with the completion of legislative business on the House…

It gives me great pride to recently have been named chairman of the Page Board; and one of the official duties is to say good-bye to the current page class, which graduates this Friday, which is tomorrow. So I would like to ask them to…

I graduated from West Point. It is supposed to be a leadership school. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was you go through 4 years of interacting with a lot of different people. The advice was, take what you saw, what was…

From my perspective, this legislation is for Quincy, Illinois. On February 10, 1999, letters were sent from the EPA with a suspense date of March 15, 1999 to settle or get sued. It was as simple as that. We were able to go up to Quincy…

the South China Sea has always been an area of constant stress for our men and women in military uniforms, especially the cat-and-dog fights that have gone on, really for many of the past years. That is why an accident was bound to happen…

I cannot match the eloquence of the folks down here. Yesterday, some interest groups took opposition with my support of the death tax. One of the comments was made, well, only one in 20 farms actually have to be sold. And my point to them…

these are interesting times. We are going to have a good battle and discussion on things that conservatives have fought for for many years: Easing the regulatory burdens, lowering taxes. Although some of my friends on the other side seem…

due to the cancellation of my flight, I missed the vote last night on H.R. 2, the Social Security and Medicare Lock-box Act of 2001. Had I been here, I would have voted in favor of the bill. This legislation signifies our commitment to…

I finally will rise to pay tribute to my dear friend, Tom Ewing. Tom was elected in 1991 to replace Ed Madigan who was appointed Secretary of Agriculture. Since that time, he has been overwhelmingly reelected by the constituents of the…

He is a man who is straightforward and honest, a solid, upstanding, good-hearted person--a true Midwesterner. Tom is one of the hardest workers in Congress, setting an example we could never meet, being the first person in the office in…

my citizens and colleagues and friends in Quincy, Illinois, will not believe this debate, because I want to share with you the story that they have been through. Nearly 8 years after the landfill closed, the city landfill in Quincy…

But there is really a more pressing issue out there, and that is the effect of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 on health care providers. My colleague, the gentleman from Chicago, Illinois (Mr. Davis), and I had a hearing in Chicago on…

with reluctance I come to the floor also making an appeal to the gentleman from California (Chairman Packard) to be supportive of this amendment, I do that with great respect to my friend, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Boswell), the…

I rise to introduce H.R. 3846, a bill to raise the minimum wage $1 over 3 years, which is a complementary bill to the small business tax relief in H.R. 3832. In 1996, I ran for this seat in Congress as an opponent of the minimum wage. My…