KEITH J. ROTHFUS

My concern is that this is essentially a unilateral political decision that was made at the White House without consulting our friends and allies.

This morning, I rise in strong support of the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act. Federal workers from western Pennsylvania have reached out to my office. They are concerned about the impact of this shutdown on their families'…

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.

Let the public service be a proud and lively career. And let every man and woman who works in any area of our national government in any branch at any level be able to say with pride and with honor in future years, 'I served the U.S…

Thank you. Also based on some very good reporting that was done, again, by our local news outlets here in Pittsburgh, and documents that they did obtain through the Freedom of Information Act, we know that the VA in Pittsburgh found…

I want to go back to what I talked about with the first panel about President Kennedy and his call to public service and that quote, "Let the public service be a proud and lively career, and let every man and woman who works in any area of…

But VA officials oppose this legislation, in part because it would subject them to potential fines for violation of the law, and the VA would rather keep those funds for patient care.

When are we going to see some accountability?

These were preventable deaths, and I think that we would all agree that someone needs to be held accountable.

I don't know anyone who could conclude that the VA in these instances met that commitment.

For all these reasons, I joined my colleague, Congressman Murphy in calling for Secretary Shinseki to come to Pittsburgh to meet with the impacted families as soon as possible to provide answers. He has yet to do this.

Let the public service be a proud and lively career, and let every man and woman who works in any area of our national government in any branch, at any level, be able to say with pride and with honor in future years, I served the U.S…

I hope we will see a change in culture at the VA, so we can begin to rebuild the trust that men and women who wear the uniform have in the VA.

The VA let these families down and then took their tax dollars and gave to those who were in leadership positions when these tragedies occurred.

You think of the mom who no longer has the free checking. They're paying the monthly bills. They're looking at that utility bill. The electric bill is coming in. And remember when the President in 2008 said that electricity rates are…

It's not just costing businesses. Again, for the mom who's sitting at that kitchen table.

Are you aware that consumers are seeing increases in fees and costs being passed onto them by financial institutions?

If the CFPB was not out there, if we didn't have any, I just wonder what would happen, particularly in this environment of high unemployment, rising tuition, and fluctuating gas prices.

The global financial crisis cost this economy $16 trillion in wealth.

I think that a whole lot of things that led up to the establishment of Dodd-Frank actually are the real problem with home ownership.

Reclaiming my time, I urge my colleagues to stand with our veterans and their families by supporting this amendment and yield back the balance of my time.

I have an amendment at the desk printed as No. 3 in the Congressional Record. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the…

I hope you will make sure that there are no political tests, but in fact that anybody who is actually trying to electioneer shouldn't get this designation.

I join my colleagues to continue to shine the light on the human rights abuses that are the subject of the Kermit Gosnell trial in Philadelphia. Dr. Gosnell's practice included a procedure he called ``snipping.'' This appalling procedure…

I reject that premise.