Remember, the elements in the health care reform, when you unwind them, virtually without exception, have their roots in a bipartisan consensus of what needs to happen to make our health care system more efficient. Many of these pilot…

I come to the floor coming from the Budget Committee, where my Republican colleagues are busy at work breaking the commitment that we all made to one another establishing a path forward on deficit reduction. It wasn't just a commitment…

Everywhere you go in America, education is a hot-button issue. Everyone has opinions about what should be emphasized, changed, adjusted, where we should spend more, where we should spend it differently. This is a reflection that Americans…

Recently, there has been a series of very powerful articles in the popular press about what we call ``end of life.'' The most recent was by Dr. Ken Murray in The Wall Street Journal last week, entitled, ``Why Doctors Die Differently.''…

Today we mourn the loss of a colleague and friend. Newark lost its champion. Africa lost its informal ambassador, as Donald Payne exercised tremendous leadership and influence as a senior member and chair of the African Subcommittee. But…

Thank you, Mr. Levin. I appreciate the fact that our chairman, Mr. Camp, and our ranking member, Mr. Levin, are here today advancing H.R. 4105. We are not going to unring the bell. The Chinese Government is an important part of the world…

Today we mourn the loss of a colleague and friend. Newark lost its champion. Africa lost its informal ambassador, as Donald Payne exercised tremendous leadership and influence as a senior member and chair of the Subcommittee on Africa.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks again for an opportunity to have this discussion, think through some of the issues.

Don knew that almost 1 billion of the world's poorest people lacked access to clean drinking water, that almost 3 times that number lacked access to sanitation resulting in the death every 15 seconds of a child needlessly to waterborne…

Yesterday, Senator Olympia Snowe announced that she wouldn't run for reelection--not that she couldn't win, but that she didn't want to, not in this environment. This storied representative will be a loss to the institution here. But it…

One of your points about the impact, that one piece of the bridge project, the $400 million element of steel, it wasn't just the steel itself. Had we been developing that portion of the steel for the project in the United States, there…

It's interesting listening to the fantasy Republican talking points. The fact is we are now drilling more oil in the United States than ever before. The inconvenient facts get in the way of political talking points. But what is not a…

The damage that you mentioned earlier in terms of the roads that are in need of critical repair, the cost to the American motorists in terms of the damage to car suspension systems and tires, that wear and tear wears out cars more rapidly…

Thank you. I deeply appreciate your courtesy in permitting me to speak, and I appreciate your leadership in focusing on the need to rebuild and renew this country, putting Americans back to work, being able to not just revitalize our…

Well, I appreciate the invitation. You know, today, as we speak, the people in Michigan are voting in a Presidential primary to help determine the Republican nominee. I just mentioned one of them. My friend and former colleague here, Rick…

Mr. Romney wants to eliminate the funding for Amtrak. This is one of his targets. Well, the United States is--in the past, I have actually been brought up short when I've talked about the United States having a third world rail passenger…

It's a lot of water that's wasted. It is a problem in terms of undermining roads. We've all seen these terrible pictures of sinkholes that develop. I used to keep them and use them for presentations. I stopped when one of the sinkholes was…

That's a very important point. The Society of American Civil Engineers has produced another fascinating report about what the cost will be if we don't invest in the water infrastructure. They have documented tens of billions of dollars of…

The gentleman is absolutely correct. There are lots of ways of going about this. Ronald Reagan in 1982 understood that the gas tax, a user fee, could be used to help the country, which at that point was in a serious economic recession…

Well, it is one of the very real problems we are facing in terms of building it in America. We are in the process of constructing a wind energy in the United States. It's been remarkably successful over the course of the last 20 years…

At the same time, this is low carbon. This is not adding to our greenhouse gas effect. It's not something that is being exported overseas, giving money to people who don't like us very much. At the same time, it is building this…

I do not know anybody in Congress, and there are some goofy people around here, but I do not know anybody that says we are going to be on automatic pilot, wait 20 or 30 years, or wait until 2036.

As Congress adjourns for the week for the Presidents Day Recess, I'm hopeful that Members will go back to their districts and talk to them about the failed transportation bill that has mercifully been pulled back from the floor. My…

This week, we watched the settlement unfold between the Department of Justice, the State attorneys general, and the major banks. Twenty-six billion dollars sounds like a lot of money, but given that almost one in four homeowners owe more…

I take modest exception to my good friend from Florida. There will be no up-or-down vote on this package. Now, service in Congress is often a roller coaster with highs and lows. Well, I've had highs and lows in my service in Congress, but…