Blake Farenthold

When we find wrongdoing in government, Congress has a limited number of remedies.

One of the things I hear consistently from my constituents in Texas is, all you guys in Congress do is go yell and scream and beat on your chest.

The buck has got to stop somewhere.

So the power of the purse is basically gone.

I think you all have behaved badly and have invited government regulation.

This line of questioning isn't about email. It's about national security and, to borrow Director Comey's words, someone at the top level of our government being extremely careless with classified information.

What this bill does, what the SPEAK FREE Act does, is make it easier for those who are victimized by abusive lawsuits to silence their voices to end this early on in the litigation proceeding.

It is no good having a site with reviews on it if all the reviews are positive, and the people posting negative reviews are silenced.

Pretty much everybody with a computer who can make it to a Starbucks is a publisher now, and we have the greatest marketplace of ideas in the world on the Internet.

Ladies and gentlemen, free speech is a vital component of government accountability, public enlightenment, and the collective pursuit of truth itself.

We have got to take a stand and say, we are not going to be lied to in Congress.

The people of United States want us to do something. They are mad. They are angry.

The President regularly bypasses Congress with what I consider to be illegal and unconstitutional executive orders.

We are here today talking about modernizing a law, but we are modernizing a law that encompasses a centuries-old principle. Back in the days when the Founding Fathers wrote our Constitution, they were concerned about the government rifling…

In reclaiming my time, my point is that, if the gentleman thinks we have too many mergers, let's change the law, but let's have a fair procedure. What this bill is designed to do is to have a fair procedure for those who are engaged in…

In reclaiming my time, I think the gentleman has a problem with the fact that there are so many mergers and that he thinks it is anticompetitive and not good for folks. That is an opinion that the gentleman is, certainly, entitled to, but…

We worked really hard in Congress to get the Veterans Choice program implemented and provide quick care for veterans.

I claim the time in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 5 minutes.

Again, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. The gentleman on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, of course, indicated that it is his intent to gut the bill here. We need to defeat this amendment. Of course, Mr…

I claim the time in opposition to the amendment. The Acting CHAIR (Ms. Foxx). The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 5 minutes.

I once again make the same argument. Once we take out one specific claim or the other, we do away with the benefits to that group that this bill confers. This bill is pro-consumer by making sure the most injured receive the most…

I feel like I am caught in Groundhog Day. I am making the same argument again and again. The purpose of this bill is to make sure the most injured are the most compensated and not result in a dilution of those by bringing in massive…

I don't know if any of them particularly are asbestos victims associations. But, again----

I would like to add it is not just the forestry industry as well. Various farm and ranch, cotton industries, in certain areas, especially in south Texas, as U.S. Highways 77 and 281 are becoming Interstate 69, is making it very difficult…

Shouldn't that be--the wait times be one of the top priorities of getting veterans the care that they need in a timely fashion?