I think this is exactly why it is important to have this discussion, to walk through these programs in the budget and talk about what exactly are we talking about when we talk about these draconian cuts that we are facing? And as I said…

economists say the most important thing Congress can do to stimulate our struggling economy is to act quickly, and that is exactly what this House is going to do today. House leaders from both parties worked with the President to craft the…

I rise today to commend the Louisiana State University Tigers football team on winning the 2007 Bowl Championship Series national championship game, and to congratulate the players, coaches, and LSU fans on a tremendous 2007 football…

As Congress resumes this week, our priority must be to work in a bipartisan fashion to address our struggling economy. There is no way to sugarcoat this economy. Over the past 12 months, wages have fallen, forcing hardworking middle-class…

last month the House and the Senate passed the Military Reservist and Veterans Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act to expand business opportunities for veterans and Reservists. And after Senate action, today we will vote…

If I could tie this all together, what we're talking about with pay-as-you-go, and the gentlewoman talks about the energy bill. And the gentleman from Ohio talked about the College Cost Reduction Act dealing with student loans. Let's tie…

On the subject of investments, that is something that had not been done in this Congress. We talked about the 6 years prior to the new Democratic Congress taking over, one of the things that had been unresolved was a water resources…

I just want to say what an honor it is for me to have been a part of the 30-Something Working Group... it really is an honor for me to be here, the same media market.

Thank you. And we're going to redirect that $14 billion into research and development of alternative fuels, alternative energy, which gets us off of the foreign oil which is what the President talked about doing. It lessens our dependence…

We would not be having this discussion were it not for this Congress on the very first day we were in session adding transparency to the earmark process. In the past we couldn't have this discussion because earmarks were put in in the dark…

Before the gentleman gets into the energy bill, Mr. Speaker, and we do have a lot to talk about because that's an historic vote that is going to change this country in the long term for the better, I did want to follow up on what the…

today the House will take a huge step towards addressing one of the great injustices affecting our brave men and women in uniform. With today's passage of the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act, we will once and for all end the practice of…

a recent poll shows that the economy is now priority number one for the American people. With home prices continuing to fall and costs continuing to rise on everything from health care to college tuition, American families are becoming…

I wanted to talk specifically for a couple of minutes about two provisions that this bill includes that I introduced. One of them involves a bill, H.R. 1944, dealing with traumatic brain injury, which is the signature injury of the war in…

I want to highlight two specific provisions that are included in this landmark legislation that we are discussing today. This bill contains legislation that I, along with Congressman Tom Udall, offered as an amendment during initial House…

With nearly 25 million veterans and over 1 million Reservists in the United States, there is a need, and a growing need, for an increased commitment by the government to assist veterans and Reservists both during and after their service to…

That is a perfect segue for what I wanted to get into right now, and we are going to, I think, conclude on this topic because this is certainly the most important issue facing the country today is the war in Iraq. I think anybody would…

Well, perhaps the most important thing that we did was return to pay-as-you-go budget scoring, which is very simple. It's the same thing that we all do in our own checkbooks at home and the same thing every business in America has to do…

I can tell you, coming from western Pennsylvania where we know about dislocated workers and the need for job training and people to readapt when companies move and with the loss of manufacturing jobs, those are critically important…

as we listen to the politicized rhetoric we are hearing from the other side today, let's keep one thing in mind; there is no group that will stand ahead of our Nation's veterans when it comes time for this Congress to make Federal funding…

And this is something that's critical to understanding the tax policies that we're going to be considering in the remaining time that we have in the 110th Congress. The alternative minimum tax, as the gentleman is pointing out, is…

This was the biggest spending administration and the biggest spending Congress in the history of the country.

As the gentleman points out, it's a matter of setting priorities. It's not as though they were lowering the cost of government across the board. They picked and chose what they wanted to lower, and one of the issues they thought wasn't…

I have two little girls, 8 and 6, Natalie and Grace, and I have in my home some of those toys. I can tell you as a parent these are not toys that are fringe. You talk about Sponge Bob Square Pants and Dora and Thomas the Tank Engine, those…

I know the gentleman didn't have the number in front of him when he was talking about it, the number of toys just from China that were recalled last year. This is this year, the number of toys that we imported, this is the number of toys…