I say to the gentleman, ``You and I had discussed, even before markup, the possibility of utilizing the Michigan rule, to which I referred to before. In that case let me give the hypothetical and see if you agree. I offer--as a claimant I…

I will not start with William and Mary or 1066 or the Battle of Hastings or 1215 or any of those historical dates, but I will start in this House of Representatives when long ago, I say to the gentleman from Michigan, we abandoned the…

what we are saying is that the final verdict of the jury is, in effect, if it finds against the plaintiff, if it finds zero, that is prima facie evidence for the late determination as to whether or not attorney's fees and so forth should…

The only test of whether it is a nonmeritorious claim, that is, frivolous, is when the jury brings in a verdict of zero for the plaintiff. Then, at that point, is triggered the loser pays situation.

That razor would be brought down on the neck of the $50,000 to $100,000 proposal that the gentleman and I are using as an example, and even under the main language of the bill, because if the verdict is $49,999, are we not making an…

That can never happen under the circumstances we currently have in this bill because, if it got that close together, $1, or even $1,000, or $5,000, the way the bill is written they will close that up. They will not go to court over a…

what we are really saying--I do want to predict how the argument is going to go later when the amendment process begins. The gentleman is saying that the present language, not the Michigan rule, but the present language, is more likely to…

Mr. Chairman, a vote for the Schumer-Conyers-Chapman amendment is a vote of no confidence in the local public officials. Your mayors, your township officials, your municipal officers elected by the voters to make decisions at their level…

It is well-known, and it is so well-embedded in the Congressional Record in previous sessions and in newspaper reports, television reports, and in every poll known to mankind that the American people, by a wide margin, 75, 80 percent…

Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman's amendment should be accepted by the House, it would in effect make the present bill that calls for instructions to the jury to carry a certain essence with them, would make those provisions…

The issue at hand is whether or not we want to extend the good faith exception to the warrantless arrests. That is the issue.

Mr. Speaker, tonight we bring this House back to orthodoxy by eliminating the vote by proxy. In any language, everyone in America knows that the heart and soul of the legislative process is resting with the committee and the committees'…

those of us who come from Pennsylvania have a historic bond with the coal mines and the courageous people who have harvested that precious fuel over the generations. So we have almost uniformly supported the efforts to provide recompense…

this proposed ban aids the criminal and hits the law-abiding citizen squarely in the face, and the criminal sprints away laughing at the whole scene, because it is the law-abiding citizen whose rights have been hurt. To what avail is this…

Members of the House, the 11th hour has come for consideration of the crime bill, and I, who am the author of some of the provisions in the crime bill, and one who has always been tough on criminals, as I view it, and on repeat offenders…

The Gekas language does provide for life without parole by the court imposing same----

I repeat: The latest case from the Supreme Court, the Lowenfield case versus Phelps, 1988, found constitutional the prospect of having a rape in my hypothetical be used as an aggravating factor, and if it is just an ordinary rape, if there…

It never ceases to amaze me why we pass legislation around here. The distinguished chairman of the Democratic Caucus says we have got to pass this legislation, let me see now, because of perception in the country. Rather than standing up…

Members of the House, many moons ago, it seems like a decade ago, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Bryant] and I joined in a bipartisan effort to bring together the varying registration laws that were on the books, both for foreign commercial…

March madness is upon us in more ways than one. I am here today to congratulate the NCAA winner of college basketball, and that may come as a big surprise to rooters for Purdue and Missouri and Indiana and Tulsa and others, because I am…

An important feature of the bill that is in front of us is the death penalty. We must indulge in a little bit of historic review here so that we can inform the American public about what we are considering voting on here today. Back in the…

one of the important elements that is contained in the bill that we are going to be considering in both general debate and then which will itself be subjected to amendments later, is the death penalty to which the chairman has alluded in…

I am inclined to support the Black Caucus budget because the Black Caucus budget is the only one that has a forward look about it on the funding for NIH, the National Institutes of Health. Why do I say that? ... the budget that is…

On that basis I am going to try to persuade myself to back the Black Caucus budget on that point alone. Every other budget that has been presented cuts back either actually, or potentially, or in the future on the funding for NIH. What are…

Mr. Speaker, a long time ago the Congress passed a statute to bind itself on a fiscal year to complete its appropriations by September 30 of every year. That is the law. Congress passed the law against itself to bind itself. Almost every…