I first wish to congratulate my friend, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy, who has been honored to receive one of the Senate's highest honors, President pro tempore of the Senate. I congratulate him and join with him…

I wish to express my sadness over the passing of Senator Dan Inouye. Dan Inouye came to this government, started his government service, at least, 60 years ago in the territorial legislature of Hawaii. He came to Congress when Hawaii…

the way we arrived at this point is the Congressional Budget Office, our chosen authority on budget matters, has concluded that the legislation violates the budget, and they submitted analysis to that effect that has been provided to the…

something special happened earlier today. An important principle is being established in the Senate, and that principle is that we will adhere to the budget agreement we made with the American people 16 months ago. In other words, we…

I'd like to remind the gentleman that Republicans have already passed the bill for the middle class tax cut on August 1 of this year, and it passed 256-171. We're now waiting for the Senate to act on that. I reserve the balance of my time.

Reclaiming my time, it is wrong to lose 700,000 more American jobs, and that's the practical effect. The minority leader and our speakers here all day want to talk about sequestration. The sequestration came as a result of a promise, a…

I thank the gentlewoman for asking. I have no further speakers and will allow her that opportunity, and then I will close. {time} 1340

I appreciate the gentleman's engaging me. I would say to you there is nothing in this rule that will preclude our taking a conference report or any business on what we might call ``regular order'' that would require a rule to come forth.

In reclaiming my time, I do appreciate the gentlewoman in that we will be engaged in many of these debates. We have been in the past, and we will be in the future. I think the gentlewoman makes a good point. We offered this bill. We…

I will yield in just a second. Mr. Speaker, this bill would have extended all current rates and would have compelled Congress to enact meaningful tax reform in 2013. We passed this. We've said we ought to do what we should do, and that was…

I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman makes a number of good points. We did pass in the House the Violence Against Women Act. It passed on May 16 of this year, 222-205. The House has passed, by the…

The gentleman from New York, a very dear friend of mine, really, I think, got something wrong. What we're trying to extend is the law that President Obama signed into law as a result of bipartisan action 2 years ago, and the economy was…