5 years ago, if someone asked what a bow tie-wearing progressive Democrat from Oregon and my colleague Ted Poe, a cowboy, boot-wearing conservative Republican from Texas, could agree on, you would have said, Not much. Today, we are…

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, we have heard on the floor that we shouldn't base our diplomacy on the Iranian political calendar--I agree--but we shouldn't base our diplomacy and our foreign policy based on our political calendar. Recently, we…

There was one provision that would have eliminated it altogether.

In a few minutes, we will be meeting with President Obama here in the Capitol. While I appreciate the President's commitment to the economy, and I do believe he is passionate about renewing and rebuilding America, there is a certain irony…

I find it entirely consistent with what has happened in this Committee.

I find that ironic, because this Committee Majority actually took action to make the cliff worse, to magnify the effect of the claw-back.

I would hope that we may take advantage of revisiting this yet again to have a teachable moment here. My good friend from New Jersey talked about some of the problems of the Metro system. As a practical matter, many of those problems are…

I listened to my friend from Virginia. I respect his opinion; but with all due respect, I think we've got a more fundamental problem than the calendar. The Republican leadership refuses to allow a conference committee on the budget between…

I listened to my good friend from Florida, and I agree in terms of the necessity of having a strong nuclear deterrent, but he just ticked off that we would still have the air-based bombers and we would have land-based missiles. Even with…

I demand a recorded vote. The CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Oregon will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 11 printed in House Report…

I yield myself such time as I may consume. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment that I'm introducing with my colleague, Ms. Gabbard from Hawaii, that would simply restore funding to the fiscal year '13 levels for cleanup and…

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 Oregon will be postponed. Amendment No. 16 Offered by Mr. Pocan The Acting CHAIR. It is now…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 30, line 21, after the dollar amount insert the following: ``(reduced by $85,000,000)''. The Acting…

I have an amendment at the desk. The CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 16, line 24, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $25,100,000)''. Page 30, line 14, after the…

I appreciate the groundwork that is being carefully laid by Senate Finance Chair Baucus and Ways and Means Committee Chair Camp. It's absolutely essential that we reform a tax code that is hopelessly complex, unfair, and often…

I arrived at my office this morning to a Politico with the front page headline ``Blumenauer's Death Panel Bill Lives on.'' It's actually a terrific article by Joanne Kenen, but the terrible headline about nonexistent death panels…

I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy. H.R. 5 takes a U-turn for educational policy. It is interesting, our friends on the Republican side of the aisle in a farm bill a couple of weeks ago managed to unite environmentalists, farm groups…

It looks like we dodged a bullet with the Prince George's water emergency, but wasn't it fascinating to watch all of the frantic activity that was necessary to deal with a planned 4- or 5-day period where people would be denied something…

This is the latest chapter in a long- running process of deliberately trying to sabotage health care reform. The delay of the employer mandate for 5 percent of American businesses that employ only 1 percent of American workers is not…

Last week's farm bill debacle in the House of Representatives highlighted a fundamental disconnect. My friends in the Republican majority felt that nutrition for poor people was not a priority because they were concerned about increasing…

This controversial decision is controversial because people claim it is controversial.

To somehow that each tiny detail is exactly as contemplated is foolish.

I appreciate the relentless focus on the nutrition programs at risk; but remember, this is going to be the costliest farm bill in history. It contains no reform. It concentrates Federal cash on the largest, most profitable agribusiness. It…

I have an amendment at the desk that will help stop Congress from taking the Corps of Engineers back to the 1980s. In 2007, Congress passed legislation requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to update its principles and guidelines, the P&G…

The dispatch with which the committee has moved forward made it not possible for me to offer the amendment that I was going to offer formally, but I just intend to deal with the issue very briefly for the committee and look forward to…