David Thomas

Mr. Speaker, I asked for consideration of this bill, as amended, because the underlying bill, the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, expired on October 1. In the committee we passed as a placeholder, if you will, a simple extension of the…

Although in committee we had a full and, I think, useful discussion about a number of concerns dealing with Customs and the way in which Customs deals with our border security and the way in which they enforce the law, one provision which…

At some point my colleagues have to decide whether or not the President needs this power. It is going to have to be done in a bipartisan way, and we have a bipartisan product in front of us. Mr. Speaker, I place in the Record the…

First of all, that is the motion to recommit, and I do have to compliment the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) in which he utilized patriotism by condemning others using patriotism to urge that my colleagues support his motion to…

I rise today to support H.J. Res. 60 and to pay tribute to my friend Maureen Reagan, a loving wife and mother, a dedicated member of the Republican Party, and a crusader for Alzheimer's Disease sufferers. I also extend my deepest…

You and me and the gentleman who is giving you all the answers there. He doesn't get Social Security until he reaches 65.

We are dealing differently with a relatively small segment of folks here than we do with others.

Wouldn't it be simpler over time if you just separated Social Security from a private retirement annuity program? Then you would have the same Social Security benefits as everyone else, and then you could add to it in the private sector…

I would love to see them do whatever they would like. They can do the best they can. But I think a lot of people are anxious, as you look at these other charts--I am sorry I can't tell you who proposed this chart, but it shows over time…

But under the private annuity programs, they can't fall back on the Government. They are private. This is a mixture, and it is sort of confusing for most of us. The Social Security, of course, has supplemented this substantially, largely…

We are down to the end of this year's activities. We are down to the end of this session. Yet we do not seem to have established for ourselves the priorities collectively that we should handle before we leave. I understand everyone has a…

Then is there any specific language that says that the taxpayers will never have to pick up part of this tier 2?

So in this program, if you start to get benefits at 60, they would be tier 2 benefits, and none of the Social Security would commence until you were 65?

Having been around here when my party was in the minority, I tend to scrutinize rules very carefully, because when we were in the minority, the minority had no automatic privilege under the rules to provide motions to recommit with or…

What is the rationale for combining Social Security and a private annuity program?

I hope we can come to a little more of a cooperative understanding of what our agenda should be in the next 2 weeks. What are the things that are most important? What are the things we ought to have as our priorities? Obviously, we have to…

it is my pleasure to tell my colleagues that the process of accommodation and compromise is alive and well. The legislation we have in front of us is supported by the administration, and I have for the Record and, when appropriate, I will…

I would suggest that he should implore the name of Tommy the Daschle if he is really looking for where the problem is in terms of not moving legislation. This House has moved, repeatedly. We have sent product after product after product…

I will tell my friend who said that the solution is to simply extend the Andean Pact, it means the African provisions are out, the Caribbean provisions are out and all of the help, as the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) said, in…

I will tell the gentleman, as I said both privately and publicly, we are currently analyzing the situation. We have been provided by our friend from American Samoa an amendment something other than simply banning. That is a significant…

when the world changes, it is always difficult and sometimes painful, but the fact of the matter is, the world will change. In this area of economic relationships, it is becoming extremely dynamic. First of all, people need to understand…

I am here to tell you that today in every way, we are getting better and better. Are we perfect? No. What you have in front of you is a piece of legislation sponsored by the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, cosponsored by the…

It is clear what has to be done. Senators from both sides of the aisle need to join with the administration and, indeed, with the Members of the House to put together a bill which we can pass. This business of continuing to talk about the…

I would like to comment on where I think we are today and where I think we need to go. Certainly I am very proud of Americans since September 11. I think it has been amazing how everyone in this country has come together with a commitment…

on another item I want to comment on that I have heard quite a bit about, the House passed last night the airport security bill, and I am glad they finally did. Of course, the big controversial issue was whether or not those personnel that…