David Thomas

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…

we are moving on today, I am pleased to note, to deal with this business of pharmaceuticals. It is a very important issue, one that we have struggled with for some time. I am not particularly impressed with the system we have used. I am…

I do not oppose eventual normalization of trade relations with Vietnam. We have done that with all of our former enemies. I oppose doing it at this time, Mr. Speaker, for very practical reasons. The latest report from the Department of…

I take the floor as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means because the Joint Committee on Taxation is a bipartisan, nonpartisan research structure that is shared by both the House and the Senate. Some misstatements of fact have been…

Members have a right to examine files. This is a report that is in progress. If the gentleman wishes to try to examine a report that is in progress, which clearly would not be conclusive, I think we can arrange that, if that is the concern…

I suggest that the tripartisan bill that is before us is probably the one that is most likely to get support. Indeed, it is the only bipartisan plan in the Senate. This bill reforms Medicare and provides prescription drug benefits which…

I think the gentleman has an excellent idea, and I think, in fact, if the goal is to get to the bottom of where the committee is and where it is not, that would solve the problem, but to cut the money of these hard-working professionals is…

I was not interested in yielding to ask the gentleman a question but merely to clarify that the gentleman is adept at putting words in people's mouths. I did not say that I was going to blue-slip it. At no time did I say I was going to…

I apologize for attempting to create a partisan approach to dealing with a very real problem. I think all of us are intending to make a good bill better. But one of the things we have to be cautious about is in examining the Senate bill…

First of all, I want to talk about energy. Certainly, during this whole year we have been giving consideration to and having some emphasis on energy. The public interest has been higher, and we have problems. When gas prices are higher…

this is an issue we have talked about for a good long time. Some of the things I have heard today are quite different than what we have talked about before. Nevertheless, everyone is entitled to their own views. I think, as has been…

As women enter their senior years, in terms of the problems they have with osteoporosis, do we include in this bill additional money to assist in mammography?

I find it interesting that if they knew last year prior to September 11 that we were going to have all of those problems associated with the tragedy around the 11th and the consequent commitment by this President to carry the war to the…

the parade on the other side of the aisle which repeated the mantra that it was a sham bill, cruel hoax, harmful to women and the disabled, in case anybody really thinks that is true, I am wondering why then when we look at the more than…

Is it not true in this bill that, for the first time, every senior who becomes Medicare eligible, that means every woman, gets a free physical?

I am trying to understand how the Committee on Ways and Means is losing jurisdiction when the chairman of the committee and the ranking member are debating a bill brought to us by a rule which allows no amendments, exactly the way in which…

Mr. Speaker, at some point, somebody needs to talk about reality. What we have heard from the other side of the aisle is that they want to operate under democracy, that democracy does not operate here. There is a difference between…

Mr. Speaker, more than a month ago, this House passed H.R. 4775 by a vote of 280-138, a clear bipartisan majority. That bill created the ability to address the debt limit. For over a month, the Senate has not responded to addressing the…

Actually, nobody deserves to be heard on this motion to recommit. It is 119 pages of nothing. The way you constructed it, knowingly and on purpose, was to pull a charade on seniors. Nothing in this bill will be available to seniors because…

Is it not true that during their working lives men very often have physicals? In fact, it is oftentimes part of their professional occupation to get a physical periodically, and many times women who are not working do not get that physical?

I did not characterize. I indicated factually what the Senate was doing; and would Members notice, I have had two consecutive interruptions on parliamentary procedure which were both wrong and simply an attempt to cover up the facts…

I wish to comment a little more on this bill. It is one that I believe is very important. It is very important because it changes what we have done in the past. It changes the concepts and the principles that we have had for a very long…

Mr. Speaker, in our debate on previous portions of the tax package that became a law last year in which we have attempted to make particular provisions permanent, the argument has been made that we do not need to do it now. In fact, that…

Did my colleagues hear it? Why are we dealing with something that is 9 years away? For someone who has worked 40 years, what is 9 years in terms of planning? It may be everything. The cynicism with which they simply disregard someone's few…

I will make a few remarks this morning in our remaining time regarding one of the issues before us. We, of course, have spent a good deal of time on emergencies over the last number of months, and properly so. We have had emergencies…