Jim Cooper

I applaud the Committee for holding this hearing today, and I want to give a special thanks to Representatives Jim Cooper and Marsha Blackburn, who have been leaders in advocating a pragmatic and bipartisan solution to the problem.

ILR applauds Representative Cooper for introducing the RELIEF Act, and Representative Broun for introducing the FOCUS Act.

I have no disrespect for my friend and colleague from Georgia. There are different ways to approach this.

Rare wood products such as guitars that were purchased prior to May 22, 2008 should be grandfathered so that musicians do not have to fear owning them.

Our legislation tries to correct several mistakes that we think Congress made in 2008 when it passed the latest amendments to the century-old Lacey Act.

We can help these innocent people without harming the worthy environmental goals of the Lacey Act.

Our bill does not require that we obey foreign law, but treats foreign law as data to be included in an accessible U.S. database.

Helping musicians like Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs is the primary impetus of our legislation because all Americans have the constitutional right to travel.

The bipartisan legislation that my Republican colleagues, Mary Bono Mack and Marcia Blackburn, and I have introduced is really very simple.

The purposes of this proposal are to exempt any plant or finished plant product imported or completed before May 22, 2008.

I am confident that in this election year, many of our colleagues will see that the real choice is between reform or defeat.

I think that the public is so tired of our blame games, we are going to act.

Congress must come up with a good answer this year.

No principle is more basic to American values than no work, no pay.

I am afraid that our start/stop government is giving everybody whiplash. America is the victim.

We have run government too long by continuing resolution instead of annual appropriations.

Neither party is willing to compromise for the good of the Nation.

Congress is its own doctor. Neither the Supreme Court nor the President can save us.

I think this hearing is important because this is the first formal institutional recognition that I have seen that Congress knows it is sick.

Unfortunately, too few of our colleagues are listening to that discontent, and too few are focusing on ways to fix the broken branch of government.

Thank you, Chairman Lieberman and Senator Collins. I appreciate your holding this hearing.

Most of us don't really care if it is a duplicative program as long as it sounds good to kids or seniors or veterans.

The political reward system is such that we are primarily benefited if we have good news speech material that excites voters back home.

If every politician were here who denounced waste, fraud, and abuse, this hearing room would be packed.

I hope that these committees will not be part of any sweeping under the rug, any whitewash.