First of all, the church cannot be a fiscal agent. They cannot, in our legislation, be a fiscal agent.

There is no question it kills the bill. Title VII at the present time exempts churches and religious organizations from employment discrimination laws. So, obviously, the church is not going to give up that title VII exemption or the…

last October I wrote to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy requesting any data or information upon which a procurement policy decision was made. I asked specifically for any information with specific contractors that had failed to…

I want to try to make sure that all the American people and all Members of Congress understand the greatest problem facing this Nation, and I repeat, the greatest problem facing this Nation. It is illiteracy and functional literacy. There…

I did not plan to speak on this amendment, but I was listening to the discussion back in my office and I thought, how silly do we think the American people are. I think it was 62 years ago, I am 72 at the present time, when my mother and…

my only regret, as I leave this institution, is that the first 20 years I sat there in the minority trying to make everybody understand that the thing that is driving local school districts up the wall more than anything else is the fact…

just for 2 seconds I wish to indicate to the gentlewoman that I know it is not the President offering the amendment, but she missed my point. For 20 years I sat here trying to get her side to do something about it and they did nothing.

I commend our country's music teachers for their efforts and for the role they play in the lives of our children, and I urge my colleagues to join me by supporting this legislation and vote yes on final passage.

I have not been able to bring the Older Americans Act to the floor. I have not been able to reauthorize it. My colleagues on that side have just as much responsibility for that not happening as some on my side. My colleagues have to…

the gentleman wanted somebody to stand up in opposition. I could not get any time. My problem is the gentleman is authorizing on an appropriations bill. The gentleman helped us create TEA. Get the gentleman's two Members of the other body…

For 22 years, I tried to get 40 percent of excess spending back to the local districts as far as special ed is concerned. If the majority had done that for all these years, Los Angeles, for instance, would have been getting an extra 100…

I am a little confused as to where the administration stands on school construction. Back in 1995, we had a rescission of the funding that was already appropriated, and then in the President's 1996 budget he put no money in for any kind of…

appropriations for Pell Grants have increased by 24 percent under the leadership of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Porter). The maximum Pell Grant has gone from $2,340 to $3,500, again an increase of almost 50 percent under the…

I am very proud to be in the well supporting the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Porter). I am very proud to be here supporting him for the last 4 years. I will tell the minority leader why you are going to bring in 200,000 people from other…

I rise in support of H.R. 4542, to designate the Washington Opera in Washington, D.C., as the National Opera. The beginnings of the Washington Opera were unusual, as it was founded by a music critic, Day Thorpe, of the now defunct…

I believe the bill we are introducing today will ensure that the program works the way it was originally intended.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation to put an end to the waste, fraud, and abuse that has plagued this program.

Now, in this era of budget surpluses, we must resist the temptation to create new untested Federal programs. Instead, I believe that, before we pass any new programs, we must first fulfill a promise we made a quarter of a century ago, a…

I continue to believe that state and local educational agencies, along with parents, are in a better position than we are in Washington to determine how best to use federal funds to help students improve their academic achievement.

Today I am introducing the Education OPTIONS Act, the last component of the House's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

Education OPTIONS puts the priority on children rather than federal regulations.

in this supplemental, there is $40 million to deal with the citrus canker problem in Florida, a problem that the Department of Agriculture said could have been handled probably with $5 million had they jumped on it immediately. The…

I am reminded even though we were a family of eight, six children and dirt poor, we did not realize we were poor because of the closeness of that family relationship. Through my first eight grades in school, as a matter of fact, we sat…

Mr. Speaker, in a free society one is generally paid according to their qualifications to do the job, the demand for their skills, and their dedication to doing a good job. However, H.R. 3846 has some much-needed reforms to the Fair Labor…

Mr. Speaker, we have debated today a very difficult issue. There are those who are convinced that the wage hike is necessary. There are those who are convinced that the wage hike is unnecessary. But one thing that both sides of the aisle…