I mentioned earlier the small business provisions that we do agree upon, but we think that these are going to be outweighed by the onerous 1099 provision that is in the health law, and the impact on businesses is going to be terrible. I…

But if you talk to small business owners across this great country of ours, you talk to workers, you talk to families, what they're concerned about is the uncertainty, the uncertainty of what's happened over the last 2 years under this…

Madam Speaker, September 24 marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Rita's landfall in my southwest Louisiana district. This category 3 storm came ashore with wind speeds of more than 120 miles per hour and 115 feet of storm surge…

I will say this, there is an even bigger tragedy, it's the moratorium that's in place today which is leading to a hemorrhage of jobs. Just a couple of days ago, 300 jobs in my hometown gone, 300, and each day it's ratcheting up to a…

This 1099 provision, we agree on it. It's an egregious issue. It needs to be repealed. We need to do it in the right way, along with many of these other issues in the health care bill. But with regard to small businesses, the President…

Again, I am in my office. This debate begins, and we can't find the actual bill language in electronic form. I understand it is now available, but to have the debate begin I don't think is very fair to Members of this House, and it is not…

I appreciate the efforts on the part of my colleague from Louisiana (Mr. Melancon). But what we have seen is, we have a current moratorium on deepwater drilling and a de facto moratorium on shallow water drilling. And I'm afraid that this…

These changes are actually hurting the competitiveness of U.S. businesses. Again, we don't need to do this kind of ad hoc, harmful tax reform. We need a comprehensive approach. The responsible approach is what I think we probably all agree…

I rise in opposition to the bill. And while a few of the tax provisions in this bill may not be unobjectionable, let's be clear, this bill is a continuation of the same failed economic policy that has given us an atmosphere of uncertainty…

I think it's important to recognize, and I agree with the gentleman who just spoke, Mr. Pascrell, that the United States has the most vibrant, open market in the entire world, and we need to take advantage of our leadership position. The…

If we lower our corporate tax rate at least down to OECD averages, that will enhance U.S. competitiveness. And we do have a different tax system than other countries utilize that I think actually hurts our competitiveness. But if we…

We want a positive vision to the future for the American people, which means we want to go along and promote growth in the economy and do an extension of unemployment benefits in a responsible way by paying for it, eliminating wasteful…

In addition to what Mr. Hoyer said about using the unused stimulus funds, Mr. Obey has hailed amendments to the Supplemental Appropriations bill made on July 1 that were paid for by repeatedly cutting unspent projects in the stimulus law…

I will reclaim my time, and I will remind the majority leader that we have the opportunity to go forward now and not cast blame on the past. So I would say that President Obama actually got it right in a statement of administration policy…

I remind my friend, the distinguished majority leader of the House, that in the 1990s, during the Clinton administration, there was a great bipartisan effort that led to those balanced budgets because there was a Republican majority.

This is the eighth time this unemployment benefit insurance is extended. I think that, in and of itself, speaks for the failure of the economic policies. Secondly, a massive tax increase in the face of economic uncertainty is only going to…

I can tell the gentleman that I do know the fishermen, the oystermen, the shrimpers, and those who run boats down in my State of Louisiana. If they were here on the House floor today, they would say, ``Please do not kick us when we're…

I agree with my ranking member's remarks here. The gentleman from New Jersey made a very compelling emotional argument. We all agree that we have to do something. But the American people want us to pay for this. They have been speaking…

Last week, the nonpartisan Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released an actuarial report that shows that the President's new health care law will increase health care costs over and above what was expected; premiums for families…

The United States is on an unsustainable path right now, an unsustainable course with massive debt, trillion dollar deficits going into the out-years, unemployment approaching 10 percent, and this administration, since January of 2009, has…

Our country is on an unsustainable path with trillion-dollar deficits annually, continued massive government spending, and an atmosphere of uncertainty as President Obama and congressional Democrats have enacted $760 million in gross new…

As I stated earlier, this legislation contains provisions that will make April 15 easier for American taxpayers, and so I intend to vote for the bill. Simplifying the treatment of cell phones used by employees, eliminating the 20 percent…

I want to respond to what was just said about these tax provisions, and that is, the previous administration actually wanted to work through these treaties and recognized that there were some problems but did not just simply want to…

We are talking about jobs, and this bill purports to be a job-creation bill, but I have deep reservations about one of the pay-fors in the bill. It is in section 301. It raises $7.7 billion in taxes, and where do these taxes come from…

We all have compassion for families struggling, those who have lost jobs, those who lack access to health care. We all want to do what's right for our country. We all want to solve these problems. But as I look at this massive, complex and…