Unlike the 1st and 14th amendment, when one imagines the 1st and 14th amendments saying thou shall not abridge speech except to a de minimis amount or everyone has equal protection under the law except to a de minimis amount, one would…

Mr. Speaker, here is the difference. This is not a question about whether or not we are interpreting whether someone's speech is abridged. This is taking an inherent constitutional congressional obligation which is deciding these questions…

We have once again been reminded of a lesson about the nation of Israel: That she is alone in an ocean of monarchies and dictatorships; that she is a democracy. And we congratulate Ariel Sharon on his election. But we have also been…

there is a great deal to commend this bill, and I commend the authors and sponsors of it: $435 million for debt relief, funds for peace in Northern Ireland, $2.9 billion for Israel, but not a penny for the Palestinian Authority. I, like…

I represent an area in Brooklyn and Queens that has one of the largest urban national parks in the Nation. We have come to appreciate it. It is not all that we would like it to be, but we do see it as our little corner of the national park…

we live in cynical times. We live in times when reams of newspaper are printed about our foibles, individual and collective; but there is scant recognition of the greatness of our country and its great people. Today we pay tribute to a…

Mr. Speaker, passage of this bill today will finally begin to bring closure for a group of Syrian Americans who have been persecuted for over 50 years. In 1944, after Syria gained its independence from France, several of the first acts…

Let us not forget that these are real people in Brooklyn who are awaiting simple justice. I have to tell my colleagues that they are, in many ways, the classic American immigrant group, in that they came here freeing persecution. When they…

I am concerned that the statement of this House should be that we are watching, at the very least. Even if this language is changed in conference, even if we choose to say to the President at a later date to release this money, to broaden…

I commend the gentleman's words. I think that there is legitimate disagreement about how to encourage these moderate voices that we have heard about to emerge. One thing we do have to keep in mind, though, as the gentleman points out, is…

But this is an opportunity with this amendment to use the matrix between agricultural policies and our human rights policies in how we deal with other countries to have, hopefully, a positive impact on a very important matter. As we speak…

on this Independence Day, Americans should keep the Shiraz 13 in our thoughts and prayers. Since March of 1999, the government of Iran has held these people simply because of their religion. The trial is over, and it looked more like a…

I want to observe that the grants under the bill have to pass through the States to get to the localities. The great success of the COPS program is that it takes police departments, even the smallest police departments, for example, and…

today the world awaits the result of the show trial of 13 Jewish hostages in Iran. They have been held for over a year simply because they are Jewish. Without evidence, without a chance to confront their accusers, without lawyers of their…

I offer an amendment to address what is a policy that is included in the FAA that is contrary not only to common sense, but is contrary to congressional mandate, it is contrary to environmental policies, and it is contrary to sane and safe…

Mr. Speaker, it is truly heartening to sit on this floor and watch my colleagues on the other side of the aisle trip over themselves to embrace Project Exile and find a way to somehow do it without giving credit to the creators of the…

would the gentleman from Arkansas tell me at what point in all of that deliberation did the House express the notion that we should not even meet in conference; that we should not even discuss these items? There seemed to have been, I…

earlier this month the Bay News in Brooklyn had this headline on their newspaper. It says, ``Get Gil In. Brooklynites Demand, Put Hodges in the Hall of Fame.'' Well, today, the veterans committee of major league baseball announced, once…

Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I agree with the ostensible purpose of the bill that we will be considering today. If the idea is to have additional penalties when a woman is harmed who is carrying a child because that person is more…

This legislation will assure the millions of Americans suffering from the disease of infertility that the treatments they so desperately need will be covered by their health insurance plans.

This is unfair, and the Family Building Act of 1999 will put a stop to it.

Consider: just three dollars a year could allow thousands of Americans to become parents.

Studies completed by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine have shown that providing comprehensive infertility coverage will add only three dollars per member per year.

I think it's worth it, the American people think it's worth it and I hope this House will show it thinks it's worth it by passing the Family Building Act of 1999.

It's unfair, and it happens too often in this country.