Steny Hoyer

This representation that somehow proxy voting has made this a less productive Congress, I think, is demonstrably untrue.

Let me just say, just because we have been doing something for 200 years doesn't mean we should continue the same old, same old.

We are not physically on the field with the Ukrainians, but we ought to do everything we possibly can to make sure that they can meet this enemy and defeat this enemy.

The partisanship that we confront and the polarization is a far bigger issue than whether we vote by proxy or vote in person.

The voices of that district were heard.

It has been an honor working closely with you in this effort, and I hope we can continue to find ways to ensure that the people's House represents the people.

I want to thank this committee, again, and the chairman and all the members, for the work that you do.

What they care is Steny Hoyer stands up and expresses their views. That is what democracy is about.

We ought to be prepared for any eventuality, such as if a new variant or virus has emerged that is deadlier.

I hope the committee will explore how proxy voting, now shown to be effective and constitutional, can be incorporated into the House's work.

This is one of the more productive Congresses in which I have served, and this is my 20th Congress.

It does not help, when we don't have that person-to-person kind of interaction.

I do not believe energy ought to be taken off the table. I want to assure my friend that is not my position, nor is it our collective position as a party. I understand what the gentleman said. I agree with the gentleman that to the extent…

As I said, I hope we can be unified and seek to pursue that which unifies us. If we did everything that the gentleman suggests is in that bill, it would not make an immediate difference, and the gentleman knows that. The gentleman knows…

The one justification for keeping the debt ceiling... is that it is an effective extortion measure.

It is not the rules that are broken, it is the Congress that is broken.

Having the debt ceiling gives--has already taken the power of the purse away from us.

The conclusion that we all reached was it wasn't the rules, it was the people.

I teamed up with Congressman Jodey Arrington in the Bipartisan Policy Center to craft and introduce the Responsible Budgeting Act.

The debt ceiling become a political cudgel rather than some sort of useful policy tool.

It would vest in the Treasury secretary the authority to raise the debt ceiling while still reserving to Congress the authority to overrule that decision if Congress ever wanted to exercise that authority.

I wish I shared that 100 percent certainty. One of the reasons why I started working on this seven years ago was because of my increasing fear that god forbid because of our increasing political dysfunction, at one point in the future we…

Over the years, Democrats, Republicans, labor unions, business leaders, and economists have endorsed the notion that at the end of the day default should not be an option.

Given recent history, it is clear to me that the best way to do so is to eliminate the debt limit entirely.

Congress has the authority to lift the debt ceiling to safeguard the full faith and credit of the United States and the responsibility to do so.