Today the press, Mr. Speaker, is reporting that a backroom deal has been cut with Democratic leadership to create a deficit cutting commission by executive order. I oppose this effort, and so will the American people. In light of this…

Earlier this week, the co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Lee Hamilton and Thomas Kean, in an op-ed for the USA Today, wrote that ``national security is too important to become a partisan issue.'' And I could not agree more. That is why I…

I rise today to call on the Obama administration and Secretary of State Clinton to appoint a special envoy for the genocide that is taking place in Darfur. Senator Brownback and I were the first Members of Congress to go to Darfur. The…

Today's economic crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. $56 trillion. We must focus on a much larger yet less visible threat: the $56 trillion in liabilities and unfunded retirement and health care obligations (that's $483,000 per U.S…

I know it sometimes takes a crisis to move Congress to action. We are in financial crisis mode today, and while there never is a convenient time to make hard decisions, the longer we wait, the more dramatic the required remedy will be…

The Christian owner of a car repair shop was killed execution-style in Mosul, police said Saturday, raising concerns about the possibility of new attacks against religious minorities in the northern city. This chilling excerpt was taken…

I have here a $100 billion bill, a Zimbabwe bill, which was printed by the Federal Reserve in Zimbabwe in June or July of 2008. So what the gentleman is saying, this $100 billion will not even buy a loaf of bread.

we saw yesterday the CBO projection that the Federal budget deficit for this fiscal year, which started in October, will balloon to $1.2 trillion. A member of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad, called it ``jaw-dropping.'' And our…

I would shudder to think how the Nation's Capital would function without Metro. Visitors from all over the country, as the other Members have said, and all over the world use this system when visiting the Nation's Capital. Metro's highest…

I rise in support of S. 2420, the Federal Food Donation Act of 2008. This bill would require a clause in federal food services contracts greater than $25,000 to encouraging donations to nonprofit organizations, such as food banks and food…

I had wanted to offer two amendments, one that would have prohibited government officials from attending the genocide Olympics on taxpayer money, and also Members of Congress. And no Member of Congress who speaks out on human rights should…

In his first speech in the British Parliament in 1789 describing the slave trade, William Wilberforce concluded telling his colleagues this, he said, ``Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again…

Having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know. None of us can say that we do not know about the Nation's long-term financial outlook, which former Comptroller General David…

I rise in support of H.R. 5489, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6892 Main Street in Gloucester, Virginia, as the ``Congresswoman Jo Ann S. Davis Post Office.'' I would like to thank Congressman Rob…

last week the annual Medicare trustees report concluded that consideration of reforms to ensure the financial security of Medicare must occur in the near future. The report states, ``The sooner the solutions are enacted, the more flexible…

last Tuesday the annual Social Security Medicare Trustees Report was issued, and not surprisingly, drawing the same dismal conclusions it did last year. We have all heard the statistics about the demographic challenge retirement of the…

in January, Moody's Investors Service released its annual report which concluded that the United States triple-A bond rating is at risk. We should care that respectable credit rating agencies are projecting that the United States will be…

I testified last week before the Budget Committee about the enormous fiscal challenge we face as a Nation and offered a bipartisan solution to respond to outgoing U.S. Comptroller David Walker's characterization of a ``tsunami of spending…

I believe it will pass the House. I think it is inevitable that it will pass the House. We have to come together. I acknowledge there have been some sincere efforts made, and I think we come together and institutionalize this with regard…

Quite frankly, our effort in the House to bring a level of transparency in the earmark process has yet to satisfy the American public. Congress holds the power of the purse and I don't believe the American public really wants us to cede…

America must develop a 21st century energy security policy that will reduce energy costs, increase energy independence, encourage energy conservation, strengthen the economy and protect the environment, including steps to cut carbon…

I think for those who are watching, you've seen this Congress at its best, to see people from both sides of the aisle come together, and that is a tribute to Jo Ann.

Mr. Speaker, it is with profound sadness that we come to the floor tonight to honor the memory of our colleague and friend, the Honorable Jo Ann Davis, who lost her 2-year battle with breast cancer this past Saturday. She was not only our…

last evening I came to the House floor to talk about one of the most critical issues facing our Nation today. Our country's financial outlook is desperate. How do we stop the red ink and the bleeding? How do we come together as Republicans…

last Tuesday Congressman Jim Cooper and I reintroduced the SAFE Commission Act, and I'm hopeful that by joining efforts our colleagues in the House and the Senate will embrace this bipartisan commission that could put our country on sound…