Let me first--you know, some have said that the United States no longer leads. I think they mean leading in a unilateral way.

Human rights and democracy advancements will not happen in a vacuum, and we must work in a multilateral way to support progress.

It is an honor to take up the ranking member role during these trying times in the region.

A peaceful, democratic, and prosperous Azerbaijan is in the best interest of the United States and our European allies.

I look forward to working with you over the next 2 years.

You will not allow anyone to go below that, but yet, give an opportunity for others who desire to be--who are taxpayers and want to live the American dream.

You are going to make sure that there is a downpayment, that there is a reasonable downpayment, 10 percent.

So you are going to make sure then--you are not going to do what some others did--that the people that you are loaning money to have the ability to pay it back.

In fact, I think on a bipartisan basis, we have all been talking about the one area of individuals who have been left out of the recovery.

I wholeheartedly agree with the President's change in direction. I think that it is clear that over 50 years, nothing has changed with the policy that we had.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. When I think of Governor Mario Cuomo, many talk about his great oratory, many talk about some of the fantastic speeches that he made, but when I think about Mario Cuomo, he didn't just talk…