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…

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…

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…

those who are arguing that the current form of the balanced budget amendment puts Social Security at risk are undeniably correct. The amendment says that in the year 2002 it will be mandatory that any surplus from Social Security be used…

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, at the appropriate time I will enter into the Record an editorial from the Fall River Herald News, a city which I represent in part. They are a very independent paper, and they make an excellent point in the editorial. In my…

I am espousing neither as a philosophical principle. The inconsistency is wholly on the gentleman's side. Members on our side have not claimed to be all for States' rights. And I appreciate the gentleman's acknowledging the inconsistency…

The gentleman rests his case because it is Tuesday. But last week, he was dictating to the States. And tomorrow he will be dictating to the States. In fact, he has a quote of the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt], although he does…

last week the Republican Party put through a bill to change last year's bill providing prison construction funds. They said last week that we had given the States too much discretion and we needed here in Washington to tell the States more…

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…

my friend from Illinois is one of the most intellectually honest people here, and he has just made clear why so many of us will be supporting the gentlewoman's amendment tomorrow. He is conscientiously, and firmly, and on principle opposed…

this urge to measure legislation by sheer volume of bills passed has really now come up against reality. This 10-hour limitation was perfectly sensible for some of the bills we have been doing this week. They were single issue bills. We…

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.

I thank the gentlewoman again for yielding. The point is there will be differences about how to spend this money locally. Local governments are not monolithic. Some people will say, ``Well, they list this and they list that, they list…

I have never seen a sharper degree of inconsistency than we get from the other side on the question of State versus Federal. Last week they were for Federal dictation on prisons. This week they are for States' rights here, but they are for…

the point I was making is that the gentleman's concern with his own personal reputation did not seem to me to be all that relevant to the debate. The question is, what has the House been able to do? And the compliance bill was considered…

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…

That they are in fact using their power to restrict debate a little bit more technically than we did. We did tend to overuse it. The gentleman on the other side only shuts off debate if it is going to be embarrassing to them, I acknowledge…

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…

That is true. That is true. Therefore, it seemed to me, it behooved me to give credit where credit was due. But the point I would make is that, yes, we have had some categorical programs. We have never claimed or pretended that we were…

I will reclaim my time to say that I am sorry that the people on the other side continue to want to deny Mr. Volkmer the credit to which he is entitled for bringing this amendment forward. But I do think that it is clear enough to say that…

I am glad to hear the Republicans talk about how they want us to be able to work, because I take that to mean that they will not try to bottle up the President's thoughtful, compassionate proposal to raise the minimum wage. Now, I was a…

several things the gentleman said made some sense to me, but then I thought I heard the gentleman say some members of the majority might want to offer the gentleman's amendment. That one seemed a little disturbing. The gentleman from…