Barney Frank

I am particularly calling attention to the formulation, the gratuitously, I believe, bigoted and insulating formulation, and I am very disappointed to see that language on the floor of the House.

Well, I have news for the gentleman from California. There are quite a number of gays and lesbians serving proudly in the U.S. military, unfortunately not serving proudly and openly because of the fact that people like him exist and have…

I come to Congress prepared to do a number of things that are difficult. I like the job, and I will undertake them, but trying to prove anything to the gentleman from California goes beyond the pale of my oath, and I will not try. I will…

Mr. Chairman, I very much regret taking the time away from Members on this serious subject, but the time is over when I will let that kind of gratuitous bigotry go unchallenged, and I take the floor simply to express my contempt for the…

I would just say, my friend, if the gentleman does not like so much what is here, then one good way to deal with that would be to vote against it, and maybe if the gentleman does not like the rule because he is precluded, a good thing…

My sense would be, in most parliamentary situations, that the last enactment would supersede the previous one. So the notion that by a prior action we could somehow control a subsequent action is a dubious proposition at best. The…

We have a very important point here, and I must say I am distressed by the tone of these rulings. By what standards can Members know how a chairman is going to divine whether or not someone represents the position of the committee? Is…

I do not want her to suggest that our friends on the other side are indifferent to the fate of these children at the Federal level. Is it not true that if everything they want goes through, while the school lunch program would be in the…

I thank the gentleman's interest in giving people that opportunity. I am touched by it. He is a soul of generosity. But I do know that last night when we were ready to go to vote at 9:35 on this and leave time for other amendments so we…

I understand that. But that also does not contradict what I just said, which is if the whip organization had been able to turn it all around it would not have happened.

I was at a meeting and I did not get the welcome news bulletin we just got that apparently the Republican whip operation was not able to get 20 percent. I do not know if Members fully understood what we just heard but apparently the effort…

To answer your question about whether or not this body would vote for the fifth amendment, would you leave any of that self-incrimination stuff in your version?

I raised this before on Agriculture. It has always been my understanding in a variety of capacities at State and local governments as well as the Federal that what they talk about is appraising the value of property at the highest and best…

I just want to underline the point the gentleman made. You are going to be hearing about horror stories all day. As the gentleman is pointing out, this bill is not aimed at correcting horror stories. This bill affects those programs where…

The value of the land would include your right to get a subsidy. If, in fact, that were not the case, why would you be trying to put it back in? The fact is, if you are able to get Government subsidies in the tens of thousands of dollars…

It is taken into account. It does not trigger it, but it, in fact, will be taken into account, and land that gets an agriculture subsidy is worth more.

No. I take my time back to say this. That is simply inaccurate, for this reason: The original bill did not say if it is against the law in all these other areas and if it is a nuisance in the wetland and environmental area. What the…

I am rising in opposition to the amendment, but I want to engage the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Tauzin] in a discussion because I think he overstated what the bill will look like if his amendment is adopted, and understated its effect…

The words to live by include the one the gentleman from Illinois so conveniently forgot to mention, ``if'', as the gentleman first read it. It said, if we are going to block grant it, I want to do it for you. Saying ``if we block grant it…

Mr. Chairman, if this did not separately say schools, there might be an argument. But it separately says schools and a lot of other things.

Let me say, reclaiming my time, we are talking not just about public buildings. We are talking about some facilities that might be private. In committee, the gentleman from Florida said, ``Well, wait a minute, you do not want to give…

Under the gentleman's bill, if you sentence them to 10 years and they serve 3, there are two ways you can qualify. You can make them serve 8 or 9, or you can cut the sentence to 4. The gentleman's bill does not require you to increase the…

But I must say I was disappointed when the gentleman from Illinois said under the bill we passed last year, if you wanted part of the $50 million pot, you had to do midnight basketball. That is not in the bill. It was permissive, just as…

We should be very clear, though, that this bill is premised on the notion that, left to their own decisionmaking process, the States of this Union will not adequately deal with violent criminals. Therefore, the Federal Government must…

Inaccuracy'' is a perfectly acceptable word under the rules. The first point I would make is that the balanced budget constitutional amendment was not the only bill we considered under a restricted rule. We considered on the first day a…