Maurice Hinchey

The underlying principles of this Republic, the founding and sustaining principle, is that government draws its just authority from the consent of the governed. We all know that. We all learned that in grammar school. You cannot have the…

Every citizen of this Republic has the right to expect ethical behavior from every other citizen, but particularly every citizen of this Republic has the right to expect ethical behavior from everyone who is placed in a position of…

I, too, want to strongly support H.R. 1151, the Credit Union Membership Act of which I am an original prime sponsor. The credit union movement has distinguished itself over the years by providing its members with good quality, low cost…

right now our veterans are being damaged by a faulty computer model. We would like to free them from the computer model and see a system based on the realities. There will be some people who may come to the floor opposing this amendment…

I believe that if a comprehensive infrastructure bill was brought to the full floor of this Congress, there would be many people who would support it. I think it is quite clear that the infrastructure needs of the country are quite severe…

I want now to say this to my friends and colleagues here. Although the report did not stipulate that VERA was the causal effect, the author of the report, the Inspector General, said to me personally that he believed that VERA was the…

The VA and its apologists for VERA would have us believe that VERA is an equitable allocation of resources. The fact of the matter is it is not anything of the kind. And the impact of VERA is not confined to the Northeast. The impact of…

I would draw the gentleman's attention to the fact that the Inspector General's report from the Veterans Administration, although it did not specifically in that report say that VERA was responsible for the decline in the quality of care…

the Veterans' Equitable Resource Allocation system, known as VERA, may have started out with good intentions. The purpose was to shift funds in accord with shifts in veterans' populations, and more specifically, with veterans' needs. If…

Mr. Chairman, let me make another point about the issue of hearings. The fact of the matter is when we hold hearings, we bring in new information, new ideas, in a process that goes before the committee to listen to. This is a set of…

With regard to the report language, the gentleman knows full well that there was an earlier attempt to put that specific same language in the ISTEA bill. This House passed that bill. We were successful in getting this language, this…

Mr. Chairman, I am in earnest support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) because it would remove dangerous anti-environmental riders from this piece of legislation, as well as other aspects of the bill…

I will not go into detail at this moment about the profound health care affects except to say that many veterans lost their lives as a result of the return of this money. That is substantiated by a report which was done by the Inspector…

Mr. Chairman, I find this is a very interesting debate because it is characterized as sort of people from somewhere else jumping in. This plan was put in place by the former Speaker of the House because he recognized all the problems we…

The gentleman must know that the rider says, ``Without regard to any provision of law,'' and so it overrides the entire process. This document represents the agreement that is about to be signed within the next couple of months by everyone…

Is it not true, though, that the easement was not granted in 1971? In fact, the land area was set up for the tribe in 1971.

Since then, the corporation has broken off negotiations on the easement on a number of occasions. And since then they have sold the coal rights on their property to a South Korean corporation. So it is only now, or only recently that they…

I want to make it perfectly understandable and plain that that is not true. There is a negotiation going on now between the Chugach Corporation and the Forest Service. The memorandum of understanding upon which they have entered into…

all across New York and across America, many people are being denied access to the health care that they need. They are also being denied access to the doctor of their choice and the health care professional that they would like to consult…

Mr. Chairman, what the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Furse) was trying to do in bringing her amendment before the House was to give us the opportunity to talk about the future direction of the Forest Service. Specifically, we need to…

it is sad to see how this Congress has hardened its heart toward America's veterans. The latest expression of that is contained within this bill and the rule that controls it. The bill, first of all, makes inadequate provision for a…

increasingly people across this country are referring to this Congress as the ``do nothing Congress.'' But more appropriately it might be referred to as the ``conspiratorial Congress.'' The leadership in this House has conspired with…

it seems that the leadership of this House has taken another poll; and in that poll, they discovered that the people of this country are concerned about the quality of education that their young family members are getting. So they come up…

I would direct the attention of the House to the recorded dialogues and the way in which those dialogues were handled by this particular committee, and ask the Members of the House to make judgments for themselves with regard to the way…

the principal issue still facing this Congress is the issue of campaign finance reform. Campaign finance reform is so critically important because it influences so much else of what we do in this House and the other one, as well. In the…