David Thomas

Mr. Chairman, before 1996, welfare recipients were trapped, trapped in a welfare system for an average of 13 years. The welfare program actually discouraged work, amazingly enough, and caseloads climbed, peaking at 14 million individuals…

I rise more to talk a little bit about the disappointment I have in the process in which we find ourselves. There is not much point in talking about the nominee, Mr. Estrada. He has been talked about forever. I can't think of another thing…

reclaiming my time, if the term ``promptly'' is in a motion to recommit, you kill the CR. You do not help it. You do not nurture it. You do not defend positions that the Senate has placed in the appropriations. You kill it. If the…

I believe the President's message was very complete. I thought he spelled out exactly what his plans are and the reasons for them. I think he has pursued the proper course over a period of time. Certainly, there is no one here who wants to…

Mr. President I remind my colleagues that the amendment this body just agreed to contains word for word the amendment of the Senator from Maryland. However, it goes on to explain that as we go through the 76 process; it is not the quotas…

I rise to support this disaster assistance, one of the things that is most important for us to deal with in the area I come from. I thank the chairman of the committee for putting this bill forward and going back and making it fit the…

we have heard some strong views, which, of course, is appropriate for the Senate. That is what we ought to be doing. We will always have a difference of view as to how we approach the problems that confront us. What we ought to do is…

I wish to talk a little about the congressional session we are in now for our second week. We have lots of things to do. Certainly, the American people are anxious that we move on to do those things. Yet we find ourselves in sort of a…

I rise to talk about several issues. First, of course, we all know so well that we are involved now in this war on terrorism, and I wanted to speak a moment about that, the fact that it affects us all. Since that terrible day on September…

I opened this debate by saying I had the uncomfortable requirement of informing the House and hoped that it would be the last time that we did so, that I was presenting a bill passed by the Senate and that we would be compelled to have to…

I have been here throughout this debate. I have not been involved in this issue prior to this point, as many have. But it has been an interesting and rather surprising sequence of events here on this first day, this sort of ceremonial day…

I have been, frankly, disappointed that it has taken us as long as it has. We have been on this measure, I understand, now for about 7 weeks, and we are still not finished--a bill that needs to be finished. It needs to be there for…

reclaiming my time, it sounds to me the gentleman is offering the classic argument of because it is not perfect, it should be opposed. It seems to me that if there is an ability to correct a mistake and that the administration simply wants…

reclaiming my time, on the unemployment, as the gentleman well knows, there is a cliff that is going to occur because of the expiration of the unemployment provisions on December 28. We have had debates about how long it should be and in…

I rise in support of H.R. 5710 creating the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The protection that we seek today with the creation of the new Department is for our people, our property, and our economy. The U.S. Customs Service has been on the…

this morning I will make a few comments with regard to the issue that is generally before us and before the country, and that is, of course, where we go with regard to Iraq and Saddam Hussein. The President did a great job last night. He…

Mr. Speaker, the so-called Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act is something that is done virtually every Congress, frankly because there are a lot of technical corrections that need to be made in the area of tariffs and…

I support wholly the content of the letter, and the fact that we are moving forward on this should in no way signify that the problems that are presently there are not being looked at and hopefully addressed in a comprehensive and…

Mr. Speaker, I would place in the Record the letter that has been discussed viz a viz the administration's understanding on the Turkey-Armenia border issue. The Administration is pressing Turkey to restore economic, political and cultural…

I remind him who it is that spends the money. The administration cannot spend a dime unless it is authorized by the Congress. We find ourselves in a Congress that doesn't even have a budget. When we talk about spending and deficits, we…

I know all of us in this Chamber shared in the profound sense of relief and elation which accompanied the heroic rescue of nine mineworkers from the Quecreek Mine near Somerset Pennsylvania earlier this summer. It was truly a remarkable…

recently ABC ran a series of stories about the National Park Service and discussed the $4.9 billion backlog of deferred maintenance nationwide in our National Park System. One segment mentioned that some operations and park programs may…

I hope we do not find ourselves dealing with too many issues and dealing with them insufficiently. I hope we set priorities for where we are going to spend the rest of our time. My reaction is we need a little less talk and a lot more…

I will visit for a few minutes about medical malpractice, which we will deal with tomorrow. Part of the bill originally had to do with pharmaceuticals. We have had a hard time focusing on pharmaceuticals. The amendment I will discuss…

Mr. Speaker, gee, I thought when we were talking about trade agreements, it was a structure in which, over time, the trade between those two countries was mutually beneficial and that what we want to do is have a broad-based relationship…