The fancy new software at use in our congressional offices gives us the ability to see all of the constituent contacts, all of their questions, complaints, and concerns by category. I wonder if anyone in Congress has received any…

Ronald Reagan signed off on something that correlated taxation on individual work and investment.

progress does not have to wait for another election or a new administration.

I look at 1986 as something that made a difference.

I would hope, Mr. Chairman, that this is something that the committee might roll up our sleeves and do some work this year providing some budget committee leadership.

I support the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, STOCK, Act. This bill clarifies that Members of Congress, congressional staff, executive branch officials, and judicial officers are subject to the same insider trading rules as…

I support H.R. 3521, the Expedited Line- Item Veto and Rescissions Act, which creates a process enabling the President to propose the elimination of certain individual spending items that he deems unnecessary and to submit those…

This week, people from dozens of cities around America are gathering for the annual Streetcar Summit. For the last 25 years, I've been working to reintroduce the modern streetcar to American communities. We started with a project in…

Today, I voted against the Conference Report for the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act. While I appreciate the fact that after twenty six extensions we have finally come together in a bicameral, bipartisan…

At this moment, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is working on what is arguably the worst transportation bill in the history of Congress--just when we need the best. It's not just wrong sized with too few esources from…

I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy and his leadership. What we're talking about here this afternoon is one of a package of four budget proposals from our Republican friends on the Budget Committee that are, in toto, going to obscure the…

There is a reason why the number of States, almost all of which used to have biennial budgeting, have moved to annual budgets. It's because they're more accurate; they're less complex; they're less expensive; and it doesn't pose as much of…

Oregon lost an amazing pioneer with the death of Gail Achterman last weekend. At the moment Gail was drawing her last breath, this remarkable woman's husband, Chuck McGinnis, was telling me the story of how she had won his heart as he…

Americans know that Congress is broken, paralyzed by hyperpartisanship, fierce ideology, and unwillingness to respond to widely understood problems with broadly supported solutions. Why, at a time of growth and increasing diversity in…

It seems to me that you are independent of Congress.

Thank you. I deeply appreciate your courtesy in permitting me to speak, and I appreciate your leadership in coming to the floor this evening and focusing on the importance of our being able to make goods and services in this country…

I really appreciate what my colleagues have focused on. Mr. Altmire referenced the infrastructure deficit in this country. The American Society of Civil Engineers does a 5-year assessment. The latest assessment gave American infrastructure…

Congress will, when the heat comes on, dial down what purported to be reforms and it is a bipartisan failing.

I yield myself 1 additional minute. It took days for, finally, reason to settle in when even the Republicans in the Senate had to say, no, well, this is the deal that we had. There appears to be a lack of accord on behalf of the new…

I yield myself 2 minutes. It's interesting to watch my friend's attempt to reframe the issue away from proposals that they have offered and the inartful budgetary fiscal activities of this last year. It was, after all, a Republican choice…

I yield myself such time as I may consume. I agree with the goal of my good friend from Wisconsin about making sure that we deal with our long-term problems of budget deficits and national debt, and certainly look forward to working…

I appreciate, as always, the opportunity to exchange views with my good friend from Wisconsin, the chair of the Budget Committee, with whom I've been pleased to work with on some items. Occasionally, rarely, we're opposed, but this is one…

We begin the new year on the same sour note with which we concluded 2011--an appalling year, full of fabricated crises that didn't need to happen but which produced real-life consequences, the debt ceiling debacle being but one example…

I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak on this measure. What we are dealing with today is a smokescreen to obscure the self-inflicted crisis of confidence that has been unfolding with our friends on the other side…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Some say that the House Republican leadership pulled the plug on the Senate bipartisan bill because they were afraid of their Republican Tea Party freshmen. Perhaps. But what is clear is that we're not…