Oct 6, 2004
I will not accept for one-half second the fiscal responsibility comment that was made. For a majority party that has presided over the largest deficits in the history of our country, I will not accept any charge that tonight we get…
Charles W. Stenholm
The Public Record
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November 18, 2004
I want to say it is with a little bit of mixed emotion tonight that I address this body for the last time.…
— Charles W. Stenholm
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by number of sources- I rise in support of the Chile and Singapore free trade agreements. The Chile Free Trade Agreement will eliminate tariffs on 85 percent of U.S. exports to Chile immediately. The Singapore Free Trade Agreement eliminates Singapore's few remaining tariffs to U.S. goods and locks in Singapore's tariff-free treatment of U.S. imports. Under the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement, American workers, consumers, businesses and farmers will enjoy preferential access to a small, but fast-growing, economy, enabling trade with no tariffs and under streamlined customs procedures. Over 75 percent of U.S. farm goods, including pork, beef, wheat, soybeans, feed grains, and potatoes will enter Chile duty free within 4 years. All other duties on U.S. agriculture products will be phased out over 12 years. U.S. farmers' access to Chilean markets will be as good or better than our competitors' in Chile. This will help reverse the gains Canada and Europe achieved in market share after implementing their free trade agreements with Chile. In light of the previous debate going on, I fail to understand how we can contend that American workers will benefit by denying our workers the opportunity to compete, in this case in Chile and in Singapore, for the jobs which is exactly what we have been doing, because other countries have negotiated free trade agreements with Chile and with Singapore. We have denied our workers the opportunity to compete.2 sources2003govinfo.gov
- I strongly support repeal of the Social Security earnings limit and do not intend to unduly delay action on this bill. However, I rise in reservation to this unanimous consent request to express my disappointment that we are considering legislation that will increase Social Security benefits without even discussing the long-term financial challenges facing Social Security. We should have spent the last year working on a comprehensive plan to strengthen Social Security that would restore solvency, reduce unfunded liabilities, give workers greater control of their retirement income, improve the safety net, and reward work; but we, both the President and Congress, have ignored our opportunity to deal with the long-term challenges facing Social Security. If we are going to pass this legislation increasing costs outside of the context of reform, we should at least be talking about ways to bring more attention to the challenges that remain.2 sources2000govinfo.gov
govinfo.gov
Oct 6, 2004
I just think making a differentiation between disasters in Nebraska and South Dakota and Texas from those disasters in Florida, which I concur are very serious and should be addressed, but it really makes no real sense for us to set a…
Oct 5, 2004
I rise in support of H.R. 4620. H.R. 4620 was introduced by our colleague, the gentleman from Washington State (Mr. Nethercutt). I have been contacted by the Texas Wheat Growers, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the Wheat Export…
Oct 4, 2004
one of the reasons why he has not brought it up is we cannot have the kinds of budgets that have been here in this body for the last 3 or 4 years and get to a balanced budget. We have to change our overall budget philosophy and go back to…
Oct 4, 2004
I am desperately trying to get people to understand the significance of this for our country, our children and our grandchildren,'' Walker says. ``How this is resolved could affect not only our economic security but our national…
Oct 4, 2004
I hope our colleagues are paying a little attention to this tonight, because when we have been on this floor offering to be part of a solution, if people are watching this right now, folks are beginning to think, I would hope, okay, what…
Oct 4, 2004
That is the crisis. Now, we hear folks saying, well, Charlie, this deficit is not the largest in the history of our country as a percent of GDP, and I concede that point readily, because that is a fact, if we will also use the same GDP…
Sep 23, 2004
as a long-time independent voice of the people of west Texas, I rise to urge my colleagues in Congress to move forward with meaningful reforms to our national energy policy. Driving across the long west Texas highways, one cannot help but…
Sep 21, 2004
I will say that everything he has said is 100 percent the truth. We did not mention Social Security. I deliberately did not mention Social Security because that is not the issue here. Everything the gentleman said in the letter from the…
Sep 21, 2004
Mr. Chairman this is a very simple amendment to restore a little bit of accountability and honesty around here about our fiscal policies. My amendment would prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury from dipping into retirement trust funds in…
Sep 21, 2004
I hope everyone caught the significance of the exchange between the chairman and me, because I am not disagreeing with anything that he offered in opposition to this amendment, because what he said is 100 percent true. I hope everyone in…
Sep 21, 2004
3\1/2\ years ago, there was a lot of talk around here about budget surpluses. Some folks actually claimed there was a danger that the government would pay off our debt held by the public too quickly. Today, projections of large budget…
Sep 8, 2004
The Blue Dog budget this year proposed to spend no more than President Bush recommended that the Congress spend, and we intend to stick with that. When my colleague talks about spending and he talks about revising history, in the 8 years…
Sep 8, 2004
But I sat here and listened carefully to his very eloquent speech that was totally irrelevant to the motion that is before the House. We are not talking about raising taxes. We are talking about being concerned about the rising deficit…
Jul 20, 2004
You are mischaracterizing my amendment. We are suggesting that the tax cuts be extended through next year. You are describing something that is not going to happen in my amendment, leaving a wrong impression with the people that might be…
Jul 20, 2004
That is the problem. That is the problem. It is a lack of understanding. PAYGO means you have got to come up with the spending cuts to take care of the amount of tax cut.
Jul 20, 2004
I think it is a fascinating argument. We have heard it time and time and time again. My friend talks about the lack of controlling of spending. Let me remind, Mr. Speaker, you control this House. You control the Senate. You control the…
Jul 20, 2004
The gentleman has misstated the facts again. There is no budget. There is no budget until we get a House-Senate conference and we have a budget. If we had a budget, I would probably be standing up here agreeing with parts of what you are…
Jul 20, 2004
Reclaiming my time, I take back time because again you are totally misleading the body when you make that statement. If you go back to PAYGO as was originally passed in this body in 1990, repassed in 1993, repassed in 1997 with Republican…
Jul 19, 2004
an earlier speaker tonight said the economy is showing signs of some considerable improvement. Jobs are being created, GDP is increasing. Well, it should. We have borrowed $2.5 trillion in the last 3 rac{1}{2} years and spent it. We should…
Jun 24, 2004
I appreciate the honesty in which he comes forward and with a straight face attempts to say why they denied us a chance. They can find time for 19 amendments, most of which are a joke. The rhetoric sounds good. What we offered in our…
Jun 24, 2004
sometimes it is rather amusing if you have been around for a few years, as I have. The last time this was seriously discussed, my friends on this side of the aisle opposed it. They believe the expedited rescission was a bad idea and that…
Jun 24, 2004
I come to the floor very disappointed because once again the majority has chosen not to allow the Blue Dogs to have our amendment considered. I would like to ask the gentleman from Washington, why did his committee allow 19 amendments…
Jun 24, 2004
my motion will make one simple change to the base bill. It will reinstate the original pay-as-you-go rules for all legislation which would increase the deficit. The motion would leave in place the discretionary spending limits and other…
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