Steve Israel

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Administrator McCarthy, I want to talk to you about the Long Island Sound, something that is not just important to me as a Representative from Long Island, but important to the entire nation.

Members on both sides of the aisle who represent the Long Island Sound area have long believed that the minimum level of funding to preserve and protect the Sound, not just environmentally but economically, is about $10 million, and that…

One out of every three Native Americans have reported being raped at some point in their lifetime.

I am disappointed that the increases proposed in fiscal year 2016 for Indian Health Service and many other agencies are not offset by responsible cuts to lower-priority spending elsewhere.

The U.S. Government must not return those stolen treasures to the Iraqi Government.

I know in my home state New York there is enormous demand, unprecedented demand for access to the affordable care act because in New York the exchanges are going to reduce premiums in half.

The American people deserve better than this.

We just want to recover the taxpayers' money for them.

It seems to me that homeless veterans ought to be an absolute priority.

no veteran should be homeless, no veteran needs to be homeless.

I commend you, Mr. Secretary, and the administration for putting this critical focus into homeless veterans.

I will not yield. I only have a little bit of time. They did not do it. Now what we're saying is we have got to try something new because what was tried before, didn't work. We need a change in policy. So what we are saying to the oil…

this morning I inaugurate energy facts versus energy fiction. Today's fact: In the spring of 2001, Vice President Cheney met with oil industry executives to develop a national energy policy. Then, before their policy was enacted the…

Amendment No. 50 offered by Mr. Israel: At the end of title XII, add the following new section: SEC. 12__. EMPLOYMENT FOR RESETTLED IRAQIS. (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary…

I would just point out to my good friend from Virginia that these translators did risk their lives to help our troops in Iraq. If they stayed in Iraq, they would in all likelihood be killed. The reason they come here is to escape…

this amendment solves a critical deficiency in our warfighting and our peacekeeping capabilities by strengthening the Arab language capabilities in the Department of Defense and Department of State. There are literally hundreds of Iraqis…

I am very proud to stand here as a sponsor of this bill to honor New York's 69th Infantry Regiment, known as the Fighting 69th, once fought as part of the Irish Brigade. Soon we will celebrate St. Patrick's day. That is a day when we will…

there is bad news and good news this Veterans Day. The bad news is the study by Harvard Medical School that there are 2 million veterans who don't have health insurance and are not eligible for veterans care, 2 million veterans. What makes…

I must say I am hearing some conflicting priorities on the floor today. We have heard that the appropriations process is not moving fast enough, despite the fact that under the leadership of Chairman Obey in the House, we passed every…

one of the greatest financial assaults on America's middle class is the alternative minimum tax. Originally, it was meant to ensure that several dozen of the richest families in America paid their fair share of taxes, but it wasn't indexed…

last week, despite the best efforts of the Democratic majority and about 44 Republicans, we were unable to override the President's veto of health insurance for the children of poor and working families. Now, I listened to the argument…

I have always believed firmly in the qualities of civility in this House, and bipartisanship and constructive dialogue and engagement and respect for one another's disagreements. In fact, last night I spent an hour on this floor with…

one of the proudest achievements that I believe this Congress has had is that we passed the largest single increase in veterans health care in the 77-year history of the VA. We did that several months ago. I think that's another shining…

tonight we do something different, something out of the ordinary. The American people are accustomed to tuning into C-SPAN and watching Democrats yelling at Republicans and Republicans yelling at Democrats. There is a Democratic Special…

I rise today in great concern over the ongoing Qassam attacks on the southern city of Sderot, Israel. Sderot is a community that has been plagued with frequent and intense firing on its inhabitants and infrastructure since Hamas's takeover…