I thank the gentleman for his comments. I want to make it clear that clearly I understand it is the democratic process that riders are offered and the House does its will. There it is. The gentleman is absolutely correct, that's the…

I thank the gentleman for his information. On the Violence Against Women Act, a very important piece of legislation which we have reauthorized in the past in a bipartisan fashion, it is under a rule. Does the gentleman know whether it will…

I thank the gentleman for that information. As I said, one concern we had on our side of the aisle was the riders, many of which we thought were inappropriate. They were adopted, but we did not favor them. The second was, of course, the…

I thank the gentleman for his observations, and clearly he and I agree on the importance of this piece of legislation. Certainly we're concerned about violence perpetrated against all women who happen to be in this country and subject to…

Unlike today's Republican bill, our proposal reduces deficits in a balanced way and prevents sequestration through a balanced combination of spending cuts and revenues. And let me say something: Nobody is asked to make a sacrifice in the…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the challenging times we live in force us to make difficult choices about our priorities. The reconciliation bill before us today is an example of choosing the wrong priorities. While we…

I would tell the majority leader, for the purposes of his planning and anticipation, as he may well know, the bill that has been reported out of the Judiciary Committee is controversial. There was a bill that passed through the other…

I want to thank my friend, Mr. Van Hollen, for the work he's done. I want to rise in opposition to this focus on Federal employees. First of all, Federal employees have contributed $75 billion over the last 2 years towards helping us…

I thank my friend for yielding. I've known Mr. Berman for almost half a century. He has been an extraordinary leader, as a young person, as chairman of this committee, as ranking member on this committee, and I want to thank him for his…

I want to thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here today. We are here as the result of the work of some extraordinary staff people, and I want to start by mentioning them. First of all, I want to congratulate…

Over two decades ago, the first President Bush signed into law the bipartisan and historic Americans with Disabilities Act. I was proud to sponsor that legislation and have worked over the last 20 years to make sure that it was effective…

I thank the Representative of Washington, D.C., for yielding to me, the distinguished gentlelady, Ms. Norton, and I want to thank my friend, Congresswoman Herrera Beutler from Washington State who chairs the subcommittee, and thank her…