Steve Buyer

I am so upset that the Democrat majority has denied my amendments. I am trying to protect America's veterans.

What this means, Mr. Chairman, is we still have work to do. And I didn't want to be overcritical about the pressure the leadership gave you to get this bill to the floor. I think you and I both would have liked to have done something more…

I thank the Speaker. I am thankful that the gentlewoman gave the answer to her question, and the answer was that it was implicit. It is very easy in debate to come down and to create a straw person and then attack the straw person. If the…

As a JAG officer in the first Gulf War, I wrote the practice and procedures for article V tribunals. I participated in the tribunals to determine status, a person's status. The President of the United States does not participate in that…

The determination of one's status is done by a tribunal under article V of the Geneva Conventions.

I have worked with the administration and the Senate and with my good friend Lindsey Graham. When you start this legislative process... we took some of the best out of the UCMJ, and we took some of the best out of the world court to create…

I want to make sure the debate has clarity. To the gentleman, when you say this bill applies to everyone or all American citizens, that is completely false. I want the gentleman to know that. I would like you to know that when you refer to…

Chairman Hunter, I want to thank you for entering into this colloquy with me and for your work on this provision and the legislation as a whole. I would also like to thank the President. He said he would work with the House and the Senate…

H.R. 5815 is a well-thought-out bill. It is the product of thorough bipartisan collaboration. I urge my colleagues to act favorably now and move this legislation to the Senate so that we can give our veterans the assurances of new and…

I thank the delegate for his work on this bill. I yield 1\1/4\ minutes to Mr. Stearns of Florida

That is a valued argument from your position, given how you have drafted the motion to instruct. That is a valued argument. I would just ask of the gentleman that when we extend price controls to a greater population, as we contend…

I follow the logic of your argument until you say it is going to help the military retirees because the military retirees don't get a specific benefit. I concur with you when you say, Steve, let DOD gain access to FSS pricing, let them get…

The rebates go to the government, they do not go to the military retiree. Therefore, the price is not affected by the military.

I would also like the Members to note that last year when we came to the floor, we thought that the COLA was going to be about 2.7 percent. Once they did the adjustment on the CPI, it ended up being about 4.1 percent. I don't know what it…

I thank the two gentlemen and look forward to working with you as we go to conference. Amendment Offered by Mr. Flake

And my colleagues, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas. It is a pleasure to have worked with you. We are colleagues on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and I appreciate your service over the years. But you and I haven't had a chance…

Mr. Murtha, I apologize to you. I know you have a resolution. That is what I was referring to. I recognize we are debating Hunter, and I apologize to you, Mr. Murtha.

I would say everyone wants the modeling to be correct and for us to reestablish trust and confidence on our predictability of a budget number. When we do that, we bring purity to the process and OMB also brings trust and confidence. I…

I can address the Chair, but I think we know who we are talking to. I am hopeful, Mr. Speaker, that the gentleman who just spoke will be very careful, because we are trying to work together to get the right number. I think it is an…

I would say that my good friend from Texas's 1-minute is very unfortunate because, Chet, you and I are working together. We are working with your colleague, Chairman Walsh, to find the right number. And so to try to say that, gee, there is…

I stand here an advocate of the military, and there is a tremendous pay gap; and every time we try to close that pay gap for the military, it has been hard because we come here to the floor, in the 12 years I have been here, and he says he…

Today, we pay tribute to Governor Frank O'Bannon--a statesman, loving husband and father and a friend to many. A loyal servant of Indiana for over 30 years, Frank O'Bannon lived life as a country gentleman, with an unassuming strength to…

When I look back now at the 1990s, I say as Congress sought to react to some of the personnel problems, we repealed the reduction, we reformed the retirement system, we made reforms in the pay tables, we increased military pay, we…

When the gentleman comes up with his $50 billion number, what he did not mention, and I ask him to elaborate a little built, is on the question of deferred maintenance. When one looks at this past decade of the 1990s, in the post-Reagan…

Reclaiming my time, the Russian Bear has been replaced by a thousand Vipers; and we have to be leaning forward and be very prepared and be very ready because we do not know who is going to be the next threat.