As the National Wildlife Refuge System celebrates its 100th anniversary, recognition for water fowl hunters and the contribution they have collectively and individually made on behalf of the refuge system is in order. Acquisition of lands…

the Blue Dog budget is based on a very simple premise that basically says that our generation needs to be willing to have the courage to pay the bills that we are incurring and not pass this staggering debt on to our children. As hard as…

I am a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, as everybody knows. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) is here with me. The gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) was here earlier, as was the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor). This is…

I support H.R. 5063 with regard to unemployment extension and the TANF measures, and I agree that we need to address the problem facing our Nation's physicians. But there are other health care providers who are in just as dire straits…

The economic engagements that I believe this country must engage in is truly a matter of national security. As I said, history teaches us that economic partners become military allies, and we have seen over the course of the last few years…

I personally do not care whether it is a Democrat or Republican bill. What we have got in this country is a $6 trillion debt. We are paying a billion dollars a day interest, and all we have asked for is a plan of some kind to get us out of…

My problem with the bill that is under consideration tonight is in the theory behind it. My family has been in the insurance business in Tennessee for over a hundred years, and the reason we have Medicare in this country is because in the…

I went before the Committee on Rules last night and asked that rather than consider a constitutional amendment, which I do not favor normally, to restrict the raising of revenue, I thought it would be much better and more honest and…

Mr. Chairman, I, like all of us here, remember the first day I got here to Congress. I came here to represent my constituents like all of the Members did consistent with the national interest. And we know that over time we lose some of…

if the Democrats had proposed this rule, I would be up here speaking against it. This rule is, I think I will put it this way, if I were doing business with someone who devised or ran their business like this rule, I would quit doing…

I would ask that every young person under the age of 35 years old in this country listen to what I have to say. We are almost $6 trillion in debt as a Nation, as a people, we owe. That is 16 percent of the money that comes here every year…

I would agree, but whether I agree or not, I think the facts speak for themselves. Last year at that time we were told there was money as far as the eye could see. We had a $5 trillion surplus. That did not come true. The budget that the…

I come tonight to talk about debt. That seems to be the topic of the day, and I have got to tell my colleagues, I watched the previous hour and I was thinking all of the time I was watching that these are the same folks that last year…

the reason the sign used by the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) was made yesterday was because the majority knew last night when we went to the Committee on Rules with our plan that we were not going to be able to offer it. So these nice…

let me just say, that we are in a time of war and the President called for unity, and in that spirit, four of us, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson) and…

I came here from Tennessee in 1988; and when I came here, people said, John, please, if you get elected, go up there and do something about this horrendous national debt. We are borrowing more money every year as a people than we can pay…

I think the facts are pretty simple here. We all say we agree on unemployment benefits, so why do we not go ahead and do that? That is what reasonable people would do, I think, in this country. Unfortunately, we get in here and get carried…

I came here and asked the people in Tennessee to send me here in 1988 because I knew from my business and personal life that this country, not my business, not me personally and my wife could continue to borrow money every year, which is…

Tuesday's events were an attack on the United States, but they were more than that. They were an attack on humanity and civilization itself. This resolution tonight represents a policy change in our country, a big policy change, a…

Mr. Speaker, yesterday this nation, our citizens and really the entire civilized world witnessed what is arguably the most barbaric action against humankind on this Earth since the dawn of civilization, save maybe the Holocaust. Mr…

I want to rise in a sense of disappointment also. I want to thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle). It is too bad his leadership has chosen the route it has chosen today, because there were some of us that wanted to reach out, do a…

I came to this issue from the standpoint of agriculture and small business. The Democratic substitute is very attractive from the standpoint of immediate, substantial relief to those sorts of individuals, small businesses and family farms…

The Blue Dogs agree that Americans are overtaxed, but we will always be overtaxed as long as we have a billion dollars a day in interest going out and as long as we have a 14 percent mortgage on this country. That is one of the reasons we…

I am one of the Blue Dog members on the Committee on Ways and Means, and I tell you, we want as large a tax cut as is responsible and consistent with protecting Social Security and Medicare and retiring the national debt, not to mention…

But the real question is why do we say we need a budget, a universe within which to work on these competing interests, whether it be paying down debt, tax cuts, increased spending for the military. The reason that we do is because we want…