While the Republican sponsors of the two bills before us contend they will create jobs, their claim is spurious. Economists have told us again and again that easing regulations has a negligible effect on job creation. The only thing these…

Before we adjourn for the year, there are a number of important items that we must address. The most pressing is the expiration of unemployment benefits at the end of December. Should Congress fail to act, millions of Americans who rely on…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this misnamed bill, which would promote neither democracy nor fairness in the workplace. Now, I have just been on this floor a few minutes, but it is ironic…

This bill before us won't do anything to help the economy or create jobs, as I said. I continue to have the strongest faith in the American worker, that they are the most talented and most productive in the world. We should not be rolling…

I thank my friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz, one of Gabby Giffords' closest friends. I acknowledge the presence of Gabby Giffords' extraordinary staffer and extraordinary leader on her staff, who herself lost a valued member of her staff…

As a result of abandoning that PAYGO responsibility, you could cut revenues very deeply and not pay for them, not cut spending. It takes no courage, I suggest to my friends, to cut taxes--none whatsoever. Everybody is happy. Paying for…

I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding. I spoke yesterday on this issue. My good friend, Mr. Goodlatte, and I have talked a number of times about this. In 1995, as I said yesterday, I voted for an amendment very similar to this…

The gentleman's chart is very interesting. He talks about voting for budgets. I didn't agree with some of the priorities in your budget; that's accurate. He is correct that we didn't cut taxes, but he is incorrect as to when you cut taxes…

I tell my friends that even on the second vote, when we did, in fact, pass that bill that President Bush asked us to pass because there was a crisis, he could not summon the majority of your party to support him. Barely three-fifths…

I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, in 1995 I spoke on the floor in support of a balanced budget amendment. That was 16 years ago. There's a lot of water over the bridge since that time. I said then and I quote: ``I do so…

Don't just preach fiscal responsibility; practice it. It will take no courage to vote for this amendment. But it will take courage to balance our budget by paying for what we buy.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I congratulate him for his leadership on this effort. I thank my friend, Chairman Bachus, for his facilitating the passage of this legislation. Community banks, Mr. Speaker, are the life blood of our…