James Oberstar

with great sadness, a sense of personal loss and loss to this House, I take the well to announce that at 11:20 this morning, our colleague, Congressman Bruce Vento, succumbed to mesothelioma, asbestos-induced cancer of the lung and…

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, July 8, 1986, a quiet neighborhood in Mounds View, Minnesota, at 4 a.m. was wrenched from its slumber by a shattering explosion. A wall of fire roared through the street, turning the night into an inextinguishable…

I would express my great appreciation to all the Members who have stayed long after the legislative business of the House to express their profound respect for the work of Bruce Vento in this body, for the friendship that he has meant to…

the apologia pro vita sua we have just heard from the gentleman in the well is and represents one of the most intensely personal moments in this body; one of the most human experiences that we engage in. None of us, unless we stand in that…

Before we adjourn we need to pass legislation to improve pipeline safety.

It is time for the House to lead; it is time for these needless pipeline tragedies to stop.

I believe that this bill is a major improvement over the Senate product and can make important contributions to pipeline safety.

I commend Economic Development Subcommittee Chairman Franks for his interest in safety at childcare centers, and especially his interest in stopping the terrible destruction and injury caused by flying glass. The General Services…

Mr. Speaker, this is a bad bill developed through a bad process, and ought to be badly defeated. It has a disarming title: Small Business Liability Relief. But it is nothing other than a wolf in sheep's clothing. It relieves large…

I want to, again, express my appreciation to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Shuster) for bringing this legislation to the committee and to the floor so expeditiously, and to compliment the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor)…

The disappearance of the Nation's wetlands is one of the greatest losses of this country. In the Central Mississippi Flyway, we have lost well over 50 percent of the wetlands that existed at the time of the formation of this Union. That is…

Mr. Speaker, not to oversimplify this issue, but to put it in very plain terms, there is more money being collected in taxes from workers in railroads than is necessary to pay out benefits under the current system. The agreement reached…

I am deeply troubled over the possibility of mergers of major domestic airlines. Many observers have predicted that if the proposed merger of United Airlines and US Airways is allowed to proceed, it will be followed by mergers of other…

This is not a half a loaf. This is virtually the whole loaf. To be sure, it does not include the original language of the bill to establish within the Executive Office of the President an entity to coordinate, but neither did we achieve…

Mr. Speaker, I commend our committee chairman, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), our subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest), our ranking member on our side, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio)…

Mr. Speaker, another reason we, on the Great Lakes, have to celebrate this 210th anniversary of the Coast Guard is that, at long last, the Congress not only has, through our committee, provided the authorization but through the…

Is it our intention that the legislation not conflict with existing Presidential decision directives, specifically PDD62, that this bill is, indeed, intended to create an entity to work within PDD62's working group structure?

Mr. Speaker, I rise to object to the anti-environmental provision of this conference report. That provision is a direct assault on the Clean Water Act. It prevents the EPA from proceeding with a final rulemaking on the Total Minimum Daily…

I take the well today to apologize to Mr. Johnson and to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for my careless, inappropriate, and offensive remark. Madam Speaker, in my years of Congress, I have staunchly maintained an…

I close with an observation about the last campaign of President Truman about which he reminisced in Plain Speaking: Another thing about that election, I won it not because of any special oratorical effects or because I had any help from…

The gentleman's amendment is well intentioned but mal-aimed. It should be an initiative on this floor to fully fund the Clean Fuels Formula Grant Program that was established in 1998 under our TEA-21 bill. If that were fully funded…

The Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 was crafted for the purpose of giving the Congress a coequal role with the President in setting the budget of the United States. That law created a process whereby the Congress, after…

I rise in support of H.R. 3313, the Long Island Sound Restoration Act. The Long Island Sound is a unique, urban watershed nestled among one of the most densely populated regions of this country. Like many of the salt-water estuaries along…

Over 35 years ago this very year, a book with a very thought-provoking title prodded Congress and the then administration into thinking anew about our precious resources of fresh water. The title of that book, The Coming Water Famine, was…

So I compliment the gentleman, Mr. Chairman, on his vigilance on this matter, but I feel that the vehicle is not appropriate. It has, first of all, not had widespread scrutiny in our committee. We have not had an opportunity until just now…