In April a draft Executive order was circulated that would force companies, as a condition of applying for a Federal contract, to disclose all Federal campaign contributions. In my opinion, if implemented, this Executive order would lead…

I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would just remind my friend from California that when Republicans brought disclosure, they didn't link it to the contracting process, which this potential Executive order does. I think that's…

I want to offer a somewhat different perspective than my friend from Massachusetts does on the trend line of defense spending. Looking at the long term, defense spending has actually, over time, come down pretty dramatically as a percent…

I have an amendment at the desk. The CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title), add the following: Sec. __. None of the funds made available by…

This amendment is quite simple. It prohibits any funds in this bill from being used to conduct military operations in Libya, a place where I believe we are engaged in an illegal and certainly unauthorized conflict. Mr. Chairman, I feel a…

In April a draft executive order was circulated that would require all companies bidding on Federal contracts to disclose all Federal campaign contributions. If enacted, this executive order would effectively politicize the Federal…

I would simply say to my good friend from Washington, who I respect frankly as much I do anybody in this Congress, the intent here is to make sure we never link political contributions with the awarding of government contracts. If we want…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to this resolution. It's well-intentioned, without question. It's meant to limit our involvement in Libya, it's meant to support our allies, and it's meant to…

Thank you for yielding, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the fiscal 2012 Defense Appropriations Act and urge all Members to extend their support as well. This is a fine bill that the committee worked on in an open…

I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Oklahoma will be postponed. Amendment Offered by Mr. Gohmert

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following: Sec. __. None of the funds made…

In April, a draft executive order was circulated that would force companies as a condition of applying for a Federal contract to disclose all Federal campaign contributions. In my view, if implemented, this executive order would lead to a…

I thank the chairman. Mr. Chairman, last month a draft Executive order was circulated that would require companies to disclose all Federal campaign contributions as a condition for submitting a bid on a Federal contract. If implemented…

I couldn't disagree more strongly with my friend from Maryland. Quite frankly, the information that this proposed executive order would extract and require from companies is not necessary to evaluate any bid that they've made. It's a…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of subtitle E of title VIII, add the following new section: SEC. 845. PROHIBITION ON DISCLOSURE…

If the information isn't necessary for the bid or for the evaluation of the bid, then it's not necessary for the executive branch to have it or for us to run the risk that it might be misused, so I urge the adoption of the amendment. I…

We've heard it all before. In the 1990s, when Republicans proposed welfare reform, we were told that it was going to lead to poverty and starvation. Instead, it was the most successful poverty reduction program in modern American history…

During rollcall vote No. 243 on agreeing to the Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 1363, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes; and waiving a…

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge the adoption of H.J. Res. 48 for the continuing appropriations for this fiscal year. It seems to me that we've got three questions we ought to address in the course of this debate. First, and very elementally…

I like this program, and I like it for a lot of reasons: first, because it has been bipartisan in a place and at a time when that has been hard to achieve.

I think this really mitigates the need for hard power, when we can do things in a cooperative and a peaceful way.

This has been a great week for fiscal conservatives. Under Chairman Rogers and the Appropriations Committee and the entire Republican Conference, we have actually enacted or are on the verge of enacting historic cuts and passing them…

This is a simple amendment, and it's on an issue we voted on as recently as 3 weeks ago. Very simply put, my amendment prohibits the use of funds under this act to administer or carry out any of the activities for the Presidential Election…

So in an era where we have to make genuinely hard decisions, to me, this is a no-brainer. This is a lot less important than a lot of the things that we need to consider and a lot of the decisions that we will have to make. There is…

I would just urge them to read the bill. It's only three pages long. Frankly, most of the things I've heard so far don't have anything to do with this legislation. This legislation doesn't raise the legal contribution limit for anybody…