The Public Record
Mr. Speaker, we are poised today on the brink of armed conflict, not knowing what the future may hold but confident in our position and in our resolve. We sincerely pray that war is not necessary. We realize that it may be. These closing…
Someone needs to stand up for American physicians. Somebody needs to stand up for the American health care system. What is the problem? Malpractice premiums have skyrocketed. What is the answer proposed by our friends on the other side? It…
I am glad that the House is finally considering this bipartisan legislation to establish Federal oversight of the rent-to-own industry. Contrary to what we have heard today, many of my poor constituents, my consumers, have absolutely no…
by now we are all well aware of the recent wave of corporate accounting scandals and the consequent need for systemic reform in this country. Though WorldCom is only one of several high-profile cases of corporate abuse, the sheer size of…
Mr. Chairman, I rise today concerning H.R. 1979 and in support of the Oberstar-Lipinski amendment which will strike an improper and egregious provision in an otherwise good bill. This amendment addresses fundamental questions of fairness…
I rise tonight. And the Democrats rise tonight, to stress the importance of maintaining a Federal commitment to support Amtrak. I, along with 150 of our colleagues, support providing Amtrak with the $1.2 billion it needs to maintain its…
the administration, as the gentleman from Oregon who also serves on the committee knows, has brought forth absolutely no testimony, no evidence of any sort showing that there is a need to move this from a governmental function into a…
Mr. Speaker, safety is the issue and it is the only issue, and as has been indicated by the gentleman from Oregon, identifying the low bid is not. The administration's executive order stating that air traffic control is not an inherently…
Mr. Chairman, it is hard to stifle the truth. It has a way of coming out. But our friends on the other side of the aisle have tried all day to gag the United States Congress so that we cannot debate the issues and we cannot discuss the…
we need to pass a welfare reform bill that allows American families to have respect and hope for the future. The goal of the original welfare reform bill was to move people permanently off the welfare rolls and into good-paying jobs…
It is time to honor the commitment we made to American families when we passed the tax cuts last year. It is time to help family farmers and family business owners plan for their retirement. It is time to pass legislation that makes those…
the well-being of family farms in America is critical to our economy and to the American way of life. Family farmers deserve certainty in pricing. They deserve certainty in legal protections. This legislation and bankruptcy reform is a…
we must stop the raid on Social Security in this country. Last year, the administration stood in front of the United States Congress and promised us, My budget protects all $2.6 trillion of the Social Security surplus for Social Security…
Mr. Speaker, after September 11 hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their jobs and were forced to seek unemployment benefits. Earlier this month we voted to extend unemployment benefits for an additional 13 weeks. Unfortunately, the…
Mr. Speaker, today's debate has illustrated a number of very serious problems with the bill before us. By federalizing class actions, it would make it far more burdensome, expensive, and time-consuming for groups of injured victims to…
in the law we have a doctrine called the ``clean hands doctrine.'' Courts express it by saying he who seeks equity must do equity. We have seen precious little equity today. First, our friends want to reveal plaintiffs' fees and what they…
Mr. Chairman, as was indicated by my friend, the gentleman from Michigan, fees are already revealed in settlements. Fees are a matter of public record; and they are approved, the fees, by the court based upon certain criteria that has been…
as I said before, this amendment is one-sided and unfair. If the other side was really interested in letting consumers and the court and the public know about fees, the other side would say the defense should reveal the fees that the…
Everyone is interested in fairness. Everyone is interested in transparency. I think no one has any opposition to making sure that both sides in the litigation and the court know about the amount of attorneys' fees, and that is fine. But…
What are the defendants scared of? What are the Enrons of the world trying to hide? What are the accounting firms trying to hide? What do the chemical manufacturers want to hide from the public? Why will they not accept fair and reasonable…
It is time to stand up for American families. It is time to stand up for American jobs. It is time to stand up in this country for American steel. Already, 30 American steel companies have declared bankruptcy, and 47,000 American…
Focused, organized, hard working and goal oriented: those are words that spring to my mind when describing our new whip, Nancy Pelosi. As will no doubt be mentioned many times tonight, Nancy Pelosi's election is historic and an indication…
I rise to oppose the misdirected economic stimulus plan, H.R. 3529, Economic Security and Recovery Act of 2001 because the bill fails to balance worker assistance provisions and tax cuts while wrecking years of Federal fiscal discipline…
Today, we stand. Reflecting on the chill of yesterday with the silence of death and the stench of terrorism in the air, we stand. We stand united. We stand committed. We stand determined. We stand confident. We stand, and we shall…
there is an old Charlie Daniels song that goes, ``The devil went down to Georgia. He was lookin' for a soul to steal. He was in a bind, he was way behind, and he was willing to make a deal.'' Well, Mr. Speaker, it seems that we have a…
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