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…

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…

The nation's fiscal footing is serious business. It is too bad, then, that so much of the conversation around funding the federal government was consumed by policy riders and petty projects championed by narrow interest groups. Congress…

I voted to support funding our Nation's disaster relief programs for an additional year. However, I remain unsatisfied by the work Congress has engaged in this year regarding our Nation's budgeting for disaster. The funding we included…

James Surowiecki outdid himself in the current issue of The New Yorker's financial page as he contrasted the decision of American Airlines to take bankruptcy versus the expectation of American business for how homeowners should behave. It…

One thing that most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters and the majority of the Tea Party advocates agree upon is that the United States is not on a sustainable path. The economy is still floundering. We are in too many cases losing the…

You are going to impose very significant cuts on hospitals. For example, the evaluation and management cap is going to impact dramatically hospitals that a number of us represent. It is going to scale up much higher costs for senior…

I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak on the bill. We will postulate that Iran has been a terrible actor and that having nuclear weapons is a threat to international stability and something that we should resist…

I thank the gentleman from Michigan. A year ago, our Republican friends talked about reforming the process so that we wouldn't have legislation that was in a ``must-pass'' category that was laden with items that were unrelated or…

As America prepares for the holiday season and the new year, it is important to pause to reflect on our good fortune and, on this season of goodwill, what we can do for others. I hope that Congress will give the gift of life, hope, and…