Richard Gephardt

since the opening days of this Congress, Democrats have been fighting for a fair and open debate, an open debate on all of the campaign finance bills that have been presented in this Congress. In the last election, the money in politics…

there they go again. The Republican leadership has once again launched a major attack on working families and the unions that simply try to represent their interests. Just last week, Republicans passed a campaign reform bill through…

I would simply say this one thing. There are a lot of reasons attributed to political victories in congressional seats, but in my view this victory is due to the character, the integrity, and the wonderful citizenship of a woman named Lois…

I have known a lot of staff people here, and we rarely thank and recognize our staff for the great work they do. One of the reasons this place works is that we have wonderful human beings who come here to work for us, and work behind the…

I certainly rise first with sympathy and condolences for his family. This is a horrible loss to them and we send prayers of understanding, prayers of comfort for this time of great sorrow in their lives. We all speak today with a very…

it is almost a month to the day that we stood here and debated whether or not to release the materials that Ken Starr had sent to the Congress, and I tried to say at that time that this was a time of utmost importance, to us as a House of…

I reluctantly rise today to oppose the Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary Appropriations bill for FY 1998 which I believe poses a serious danger to the use of statistical sampling in the 2000 Census. By insisting on the language…

I strongly support this bill to reform the Internal Revenue Service. In my view, we are taking an important step to increase the accountability of the IRS and to shift the balance of power back toward the taxpayer. But it is important to…

I urge a ``no'' vote on vouchers and a ``yes'' vote for public schools. I want to say that I think everybody here tonight is well-meaning and everybody here I would submit cares about what happens to our children, but I believe that we…

let me urge Members to vote for this bipartisan amendment, and let me start by saying that the Census Bureau and a number of other important objective authorities have supported the targeted use of statistical sampling for the 2000 census…

I am for free trade, as is the gentleman from Michigan. We believe trade is synergistic, we think it has energy for everyone, we think it helps every country that can engage in free trade, and we are for free trade treaties between the…

first I rise today to congratulate all who were involved in this negotiation. I especially want to congratulate my President and my party for standing for very important principles in how this tax cut bill was put together. I am very…

I would like to introduce to all of my colleagues the Boyer family of Ste. Genevieve, MO, in my district. No strangers to hard work and sacrifice, the Boyers are struggling to provide their children with a quality education. Cecil is a…

I rise tonight in favor of the Rangel Democratic bill and to speak in favor of it over the Republican bill. I rise to raise a simple question, which is who should be getting the lion's share of the benefit from this tax cut bill. Everybody…

this is a debate today that is not simply about economics and trade, it is a debate about principle and value and belief. This country was founded not on economic principles and not on economic ideas, but on moral beliefs that have for…

When the House takes up the Republican vision of tax relief, we will oppose it because well over half the benefits go to the top, or wealthiest 5 percent of taxpayers. We ask the Republicans to simply listen to the words of the people that…

If Members think about what the gentleman just said, that we have people earning $20,000 and $18,000 and $17,000 a year, and under the Republican bill they would not only maybe not get a tax cut, it would even increase their taxes, while…

I rise reluctantly this afternoon to state that I will not vote for this budget, but before giving Members the reasons for that, I want to commend the Members on both sides of the aisle. I especially want to commend the gentleman from…

I strongly support this Democratic amendment to the Juvenile Crime Control Act because it accomplishes what the Republican bill does not: It heeds the cry of law enforcement officers who are asking for help at the local level, in the…

I rise to oppose this bill today. The title of the bill or the phrase that is used to describe the bill makes it sound like a very appealing idea, the idea that workers should have the ability to have flex time to be able to change hours…

I rise to second the thought that the Speaker just made on the floor about the bipartisan retreat that happened this weekend in Hershey. It was a historic event, the only time that I know that Members from both sides of the aisle and their…

the world's population is growing by 90 million every year--that is the equivalent of adding the entire population of Mexico every year. Family planning is critical for the survival of the planet and the people on it. Overpopulation leads…

I would agree that we believe on the Democratic side, I think, with our friends on the Republican side that there needs to be a complete review of the ethics process with a view toward recommending changes to the whole body, that the body…

in a few short moments I believe this House of Representatives will vote to raise the minimum wage, which is at a 40-year low. It is severely impacting, in a negative way, American families. I realize that for many of my colleagues on the…

There is no more dastardly act than burning a place of worship, and the offense is even greater when racial hatred is involved, as it is in many of these cases. It is very important tonight that all of us, Republican, Democrat, from every…