The fact that I have so many Federal employees who are furloughed and aren't working, I don't relish that, and I am pretty disgusted by it.

Mr. Speaker, I would wholeheartedly concur with the preceding speaker that we need wisdom, we need guidance. We don't want to shut this government down, and certainly we don't want to play politics--at least many of us--with our…

I thank the gentlelady for yielding time and for leading this discussion of a way forward. I appreciate the fact that we are now in a shutdown of government that I fear has been intentionally perpetrated in order to force something further…

So in other words there was a lot of flexibility that credits could still be claimed years down the road.

Mr. Speaker, almost before we finished our vote on the floor of the House calling for a conference committee to address concerns and try to face each other eye-to-eye, House-Senate, to come up with a solution, the phone lines were ringing…

Mr. Speaker, we sincerely need true leadership at this time--great problems, great challenges, great divisions--and yet our President's first call last Friday to House leadership clearly indicated, in his own words, that he would not…

Public testimony is necessary in front of a committee such as this so that the American people can get the truth.

I always believed in the warrior ethos, never leave one of our own behind.

I love my country, but my government is a problem.

The hardest thing to find here in Washington is the truth.

Mr. Speaker, there was a time when the Southern Poverty Law Center was a laudable civil rights organization, boldly combating bigotry and extremism. Such noble pursuits have been cast aside for partisan politics, and today the SPLC is…