Mr. Chairman, I would ask, what does it say about the United States and its NATO allies that we cannot take on a two-bit bully down the block? By allowing Milosevic to get away with his third brutal war in a decade, the United States and…

Well, in fact, they run into the things that we have been discussing, higher administrative fees, greater investment return uncertainty, the same things that would face, in fact, the reform of Social Security. The fact of the matter is…

The administrative cost under Social Security is under 1 percent. It is truly the most efficient mechanism of getting benefits available to Americans.

That is precisely correct. The gentlewoman is exactly right. These earlier studies have been flawed, and they are being corrected by a spate of recent studies done by all perspectives out there analyzing this very important issue. I cite…

Well, this is a study by the General Accounting Office, and this is not a group with any stake in this debate. They are providing the strict analysis, and they find precisely that those that have gone not with the Social Security but with…

Well, they run considerably more than that. In fact, the least expensive individual account structure could be brought on line potentially for 8 percent, 800 times what we are presently paying; and a more likely scenario could be 30 to 40…

I am one of those Members who hopes that 1999 will be a year in which both parties and the President come together to enact legislation to preserve and strengthen Social Security for the 21st century. I was delighted with the emphasis…

on the issue before us, this Congress stands at a very important crossroads: Do we go down the easy path of dissipating the Social Security surplus on election year gimmicks like this proposed tax cut, or do we brace ourselves for the…

Mr. Speaker, we have an unprecedented disaster facing farm country, and working together, Republicans and Democrats, we have to respond. It is estimated that we could lose up to one-third of the farmers in the State I represent if we do…

I just returned today from 3 weeks in North Dakota. I want my colleagues to understand just how desperately dire the farm situation is in my State and throughout the upper Great Plains. We are absolutely ravaged by the twin disasters of…

Mr. Chairman, I want my colleagues to focus on what this is really all about. It is not about Adam Smith and Milton Friedman. It is much more about Paul and Vanessa Kummer, family farmers near the Red River of North Dakota. I heard the…

a year ago Grand Forks, North Dakota, was ravaged by flooding waters from the Red River. The eyes of the Nation watched with horror as this city of 50,000 suffered not just a devastating flooding event, but, in the middle of all else…

while I will be voting for the Energy and Water Appropriations bill at this early point in the legislative process, I want my colleagues to know that the funding in this measure for several important water projects in North Dakota are not…

Reclaiming my time, I hope every Member watching this is aware that, in essence, this is nothing more than a flat-out House amendment of the budget we passed 2 weeks ago, an amendment adding more than $1 billion in spending, because the…

Reclaiming my time. Let me really take issue with the gentleman from Florida from the majority when he says that the Budget Act has been fully complied with. It has not. There is a procedure. The procedure is, first of all, the House and…

I have a question on that specific point, because the Budget Act provides a way for the appropriations process to go forward in the absence of a budget resolution. It requires a letter from the chairman, and that is specifically provided…

my vote today on behalf of H.R. 3150 is a vote to advance the process of bankruptcy reform in this Congress. I strongly believe that there is a need to reform our nation's bankruptcy laws. Passage of H.R. 3150 will allow bankruptcy reform…

I find it so curious that the majority refuses to discuss their budget tonight and instead want to discuss a budget that is not even on the floor. I have been on the Committee on the Budget for 6 years and I have never seen such a fiasco…

Speaking to the crop insurance and ag research portions of this bill, Mr. Speaker, the one way we pass this today and ensure its enactment is to pass the conference report, the one adopted by the Senate by 92 votes. The Committee on Rules…

1 year ago today, just before going out on Memorial Day recess, we failed to pass the disaster bill. My colleagues forced me to go back to the people of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and tell them that Congress politically was unable to…

those provisions do not begin to have the clarity the motion to recommit offers. While the gentleman does talk about some consensus effort within the committee, in fact there was a protracted debate in the committee and a voice vote where…

this commission by its very design is about analysis and discussion now, leading to legislative action later, hopefully in 1999. Now, the motion to recommit will put present meaning to a bill that is otherwise merely about future action…

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of this legislation. This bill to authorize a mineral exchange has been the result of extensive negotiations between Burlington Resources, an oil and gas development company, the U.S. Forest Service, the North…

I have another issue that I will raise in that respect, but I would love the clarification, that ERISA in total is not subject to the act. That is not my understanding.

The regulatory requirement to which I was speaking is originally based in the ERISA legislation, but based in the Department of Labor. And so it is certainly my impression that the legislation before us does not waive that one, that it…