This is part of a comprehensive approach. Democrats have been working since we returned to power to increase fuel efficiency and with other alternatives for energy. I welcome a broad, far-ranging debate about what Republicans did when they…

I rise in support of this integral part of a comprehensive approach that has been offered by the majority party to deal with the energy challenges we face today. It is important that we think of this in a comprehensive fashion because…

I have a slightly different recollection of that. One of the first things this administration did when they came to power was to create 7 years ago a secret task force. They never really fully released what was going on or why, but we know…

I confess to being the one person who voted against that. I had some concerns about how that was framed. I went back and did some research and concluded that my ``no'' vote was ill-advised, although it wasn't determinative, and I wanted to…

like the proverbial pig that has been swallowed by the python, the swollen surge of the Mississippi flood waters is slowly working its way down the river. The damage inflicted is not just to the homes, businesses and farms along the way…

today I am proud to support H.R. 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. This legislation addresses issues within Medicare that have been too long ignored, including preventing the pending 10 percent payment…

I appreciate the hard work put in by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers. For the past year we've participated in substantial and sometimes heated debate on the issue of surveillance and foreign intelligence. I…

I appreciate, Mr. Inslee, your continued advocacy, being on message, moving legislative initiatives, and helping educate the American public about the potential of the New Apollo Project, the potential for our economy, the potential for a…

Thank you. And I appreciate your pulling these pieces together, Congressman Inslee. I think you hit the nail on the head. I am hopeful that throughout all of this, that we can conduct this debate from this point forward by being honest…

I appreciate you zeroing in on this, Congressman Inslee, because you, as much as anybody in Congress, have been spending the time looking at the consequences of our current use of energy. I think the evidence is not only in terms of the…

while our hearts are touched by the terrible flooding in Iowa, 24 lives lost already, 40,000 people who had to be evacuated, now is the time to think about how we help them in the future and prevent others from this fate. This is the…

Thank you, Congressman Inslee. It's a pleasure to join with my colleagues from Illinois and Kansas for this conversation this evening. This is serious business, and in a time when energy impacts are devastating our airline industry and…

as we take up the final war supplemental of the Bush administration, the Bush legacy in Iraq is clear: a President who misled America, needlessly put our troops in harm's way, and threw billion of dollars of good money after bad. Five…

I strongly support today's legislation to extend unemployment benefits at a time of economic hardship for families in Oregon and across the country. There are currently over 106,000 unemployed workers in Oregon and as many as 3.8 million…

I am enthusiastically supportive of the rule and the underlying bill. An opportunity to integrate sustainability into the neighborhood school, the building block of communities, is a double win. In the long run, this is going to save…

I rise today in asking my colleagues to join me in this legislation to designate the facility of the postal service on Northeast Killingsworth in Portland as the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Post Office. Dr. King, as a powerful symbol of…

Nobody talked about this on the floor, drawing the veil over this information. It was inserted without public hearings, without debate, and will have serious oversight ramifications on how we manage these programs. Nineteen congressional…

There is a clear record of failed fiscal discipline on the part of our friends on the Republican side of the aisle; 12 years of failure to deal with the alternative minimum tax, including 6 years of that time when they controlled the…

after five years, thousands of lives lost, and hundreds of billions of dollars spent and trillions to go, the amendments adopted today are the beginning of a solution in Iraq. These amendments mandate the beginning of withdrawal, setting…

We should not drop a veil of secrecy over this bill. We should open it up. Let the American public know what is in it. If for no other reason, the notion that we are going to play a game of ``hide-the-marble'' with them, and not be honest…

One of the most disappointing turns in the current campaign has been the proposal of Senator Clinton and Senator McCain for the ``gas tax holiday.'' One doesn't want to be cynical, but thinking back to Senator McCain's Straight Talk…

Too often I have watched in the farm legislation that I have seen work through here that conservation ends up being the piggy bank for the farm bill. This is an area that is shortchanged to deal with more powerful political interests…

Following up on my good friend, I'm glad he mentioned bicycles, because there are some people in America that are doing something to provide more choices to Americans, to burn calories instead of fossil fuels. I am pleased that my…

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During this election season, we've seen some pretty painful moments. It has been embarrassing, for instance, to watch the flip-flopping of Senator McCain on tax cuts that he is now for before he was against them…

John McCain has famously said that he doesn't know much about economic issues. But it's paradoxical that the Republican presidential candidate's idea for helping a troubled economy is to put people out of work and make traffic congestion…