last week the Republican majority and the Democratic minority passed with no negative votes the removal of caps on the Social Security earnings. But it seems the Republican majority did not learn how to pass legislation on a bipartisan…

You remember when the legislature passed the HMO reform bill or managed care reform bill in Texas and it was passed by the legislature and it became law this time, though; but the governor did not veto it, he did not sign it, it became law…

In 1995, the State of Texas passed the first strong managed care reform bill, HMO reform bill, passed both the House and the Senate and the governor vetoed it in 1995.

I thank my colleague again, because there is no doubt that this Congress needs to address a broad range of health care. We have a bill that passed the House, that is a strong Patients' Bill of Rights; and we need to take one step at a…

I am so glad the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) brought up those because oftentimes to pass legislation we have to show the public support and, like the gentlewoman said, over 80 percent support now for a real Patients' Bill of…

I thank our Democratic leader for allowing us to take the first hour tonight to talk about the Patients' Bill of Rights. I know that we have been talking about this for many years now it seems like, not only the last Congress but also last…

That is the history of managed care reform in Texas. There are things that I am proud to be a Texan always; but obviously we have not done as well as we should on the CHIPs program and those prescriptions that you talk about on Medicaid; I…

on the floor today we will be considering the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act. It allows seniors to work, continue to work without affecting their Social Security. It seems hard to believe that our tax law would actually punish people…

this Congress should have an open floor debate on legislation to help seniors afford the high cost of prescription drugs. We cannot sit on this issue any longer. It is estimated we have 13 million seniors who do not have prescription drug…

I stand here today wanting to support a reform of the marriage tax penalty. It is wrong that we would punish people for being married, and that is why I would hope that we could support a bill that would be bipartisan. But what we have…

I follow my colleague from Florida in saying that I agree that we should work together. In fact, last year this House passed and worked very hard on a bipartisan Norwood-Dingell bill, on managed care reform, but we have not seen any action…

over the next hour, we will be hearing from lots of Members talking about not only the vote we took today on the motion to instruct conferees, but talk about the need for managed care reform and HMO reform. Because Congress, being out of…

Well, just in closing, because I think this is important, the first day we have actually had votes, other than a rollcall vote last week, the HMO reform bill is literally the top priority for us. Sure, we have to deal with the budget and…

It has been 4 months since we passed the bipartisan Norwood-Dingell bill and nothing has been done. We have worked hard to reach that consensus, but the opposition continues to delay the real reform with gimmicks and watered down proposals…

I am proud to have been a cosponsor of H.R. 2723. This was a bipartisan vote as it passed this House. I would hope our conferees, as they are named, would remember that this House sent that bill to the Senate with a strong majority. It was…

the Social Security program is one of our most successful domestic programs ever created. It guarantees retirement security benefits for millions of Americans, and yet what we are seeing now today as the Republican majority's budget…

for days I have stood here on the floor also sitting and watching on C-SPAN my Republican colleagues attack the President's budget and attack Democrats for spending Social Security dollars, and I knew they were playing fast and loose with…

for months now we have been hearing from the insurance industry that we cannot pass a Patients' Bill of Rights because it would increase costs and open employers to lawsuits, both of which would supposedly force employers to drop coverage…

just before Congress recessed for the August break, the majority Republicans passed the so-called Financial Freedom Act. I think a more appropriate name for the GOP tax plan should be ``A Return to the Massive Annual Debt,'' or maybe ``The…

only in this Congress, with a small Republican majority, would we experience the following: cuts in housing funds, cuts in science and space funds, cuts in education funds, no planning to safeguard Medicare for the future growth, almost $6…

when somebody in my district that is a blue collar worker gets a job at Johnson Space Center, they move to the district of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Lampson) or the district of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) or the district of…

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate my colleague from Houston, Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) bringing her amendment. Service on the Committee on Science, I think points out the need for this. I have a district in Houston. It does not come close to the…

last week there was a newspaper article that highlighted one of the fundamental issues at the center of the HMO debate: Who decides medical necessity, an insurance company or our local doctors? A doctor was treating a pregnant woman who…

I am proud this morning to talk about one of those programs that the President announced yesterday that we need to do, and we should have done it many years ago. Studies have shown across this country in congressional districts…

because of the prior commitment of my daughter's wedding in Houston, I was not present for the final vote on H.R. 1664, the Kosovo Supplemental bill. If I had been present, I would have voted yes on final passage. ____________________