Jim Baird

Como estadounidense y miembro del Congreso de los Estados Unidos de America, quiero expresar mis mas profundas condolencias al pueblo de Espana por la tragica perdida de tantos inocentes en manos del terrorismo. Personalmente, tuve la…

Ed Pence has been a loyal and valued servant to this country for 25 years. He has reached out to numerous people and he will be greatly missed. He retires at the end of this year. In October of 1978, Ed joined the Capitol Police Force and…

I cannot get up and say this bill is awful entirely. I think there are some very good parts, and I think some good efforts have been put into it, but I have two concerns. First of all, side effects. I think the side effects of this bill…

I believe the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce) has pointed out we have had adequate time to study the legislation. I presume she is going to vote on it. This is a summary provided by her Republican party, yet she fails to be able to…

I profoundly appreciate the hard work that has gone into this legislation but, my friends, we know that it is 1,200 pages long, it spends $400 billion of the taxpayers' money and no one in this body save the conference members have had…

The solution to our problems of disposing of radioactive waste is not to redefine them and say the problem's gone away because we came up with a new definition. That is essentially what the Department of Energy is asking to do, and I…

Mr. Chairman, it is my great privilege to represent portions of Mount Rainier National Park and Mount St. Helen's National Monument. I would like to associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder). I personally…

the gentlewoman raises a perfectly legitimate point about the family foresters. The bulk of the family foresters in my district would be perfectly well covered under the $6 million exemption. I have met with them. I meet with their…

What we are about here is about as serious as it gets. We are contemplating the possibility that everyone in this building and most of the Federal Government officials in this city would be killed. It is not pleasant to contemplate, but I…

what the responsible gentlewoman from Washington failed to say is that this bill does nothing to return $500 million to the people of her own State of Washington by reinstating sales tax deductibility.

I agree. When the President asked rhetorically in his speeches, if a little bit of a tax cut is a good thing, what about a big tax cut, well, the answer is we have already had a pretty big darn tax cut; and the second answer is, most…

When I talk to those folks, they do not tell me, ``What I would like the President and Congress to do is give me a tax cut.'' What they say is, ``We want jobs and we want health care.''

I thank my colleague. What a clear-cut explanation of the situation we are in. When I had those forums and town hall meetings back home, people asked me precisely the kind of questions the gentleman was addressing. What does this tax cut…

The irony is, and let me just ask the gentleman to respond to this for second. You had that chart up there that showed that the vast bulk of the tax breaks go to the very wealthiest. The majority party, the Republicans, say we are engaging…

One of the issues this budget does not address that I know is important to the people of Wisconsin, as it is to my own State of Washington and, in fact, to the Committee on the Budget chairman's State of Iowa, is Medicare fairness. Many of…

it is time for this body and for our President to level with the people of the United States of America. Just a couple of years ago when people ran for office, we were all talking about the Social Security and Medicare lockbox. We need to…

my second question deals with Section 17 that requires the Director, 24 months after the date of enactment of this act, to submit a report to Congress reviewing this act to ensure that awards under the act are made to individuals and…

I also want to reiterate my thanks to Chairman Boehlert, Ranking Member Hall, the committee staff and my own staff member, Chris Schloesser, for their good work on this. Coincidentally, a few weeks ago I was messing around with my own…

I neglected to mention two people who were tremendously helpful: the Pierce County auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek, and the Cowlitz County auditor Chris Swanstron. These folks helped us understand that even in optimal circumstances, a…

Hopefully, we will never need this legislation; but if it is ever needed, it may be one of the most important things we will ever do in our lifetime and during our service to this Congress. This is a start. This is an effort to say to the…

Yesterday our Nation and this House paid a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives on September 11, to the heroic rescuers, and to their families. Today, I would like to take just a moment to honor another group of people who serve…

I just wanted to add also that another individual who has worked tremendously hard on this is Dave Micandri, head of the Washington State Historical Society. It was his vision and persistence and tireless effort to make sure Station Camp…

In fact, rules are the way a civilized society governs its conduct. We teach our children to play by the rules. We teach them fairness. Mr. Jefferson saw the rules as a way of protecting the views of the minority against the abuses which…

I praise the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) for introducing legislation that would have prevented that tragedy. I am particularly concerned about a provision in the Republican majority bill which does not allow State boards of…

Members of the House know it, Senator McCain knows it, Granny Dee knows it, and most importantly, our constituents know it. Money and campaign financing are having a corrosive influence on the political process today. I personally reject…