Pete Sessions

I know my mother didn't have any coverage. She was glad to get the prescription drug benefits.

I do know that you, as one of the authors of that bill which I did support, did create provisions to minimize that and deliberately took steps to reduce the amount of crowd-out that would occur.

Well, I will say this without doubt, Mr. President. Amendments have been offered, I believe already and will be offered, to make sure New York would not be able to get the 400 percent. Because the Federal taxpayers in my State of Alabama…

Welcome to the new Democrat-run House of Representatives: No debate added time. No regular order hearings. Closed rules. Welcome.

These debates are great. It gives everybody on both sides, including the Democrats who ran on an agenda of having socialized medicine, Washington, D.C.-run health care, they can come down to the floor of the House and talk about this is…

We believe that the earmarks which have been presented, which the way this bill has come to the floor, is not properly done. It did not follow regular order. It is without the transparency that the new Democrat majority has touted and…

I would note that the U.S. population is increasing by 25 million each decade. The number of people over 65 will double by 2030. We expect more and more out of health care. We must have additional medical physicians, and we need to…

Congress finds that Iran maintains a nuclear program in continued defiance of the international community while developing ballistic missiles of increasing sophistication and range that pose a threat to both the forward-deployed forces of…

I believe it to be correct, but the fact of the matter is, whether it's a 6-percent increase or a 4-percent increase as the gentlewoman subscribes to, we believe that is not the proper way to grow this government.

Without getting into an argument with the gentlewoman, we would just state the facts of the case. It is over $4 billion additional spending, this year over the last, and $4 billion is a lot of money to run this ship.

I am saying that I am not going to be able to support a lot of amendments that are rushed up here to receive votes when Senators have very little time to review them. I think this is important. If we are going through a process just to say…

I think about 45 minutes per amendment. Some of these amendments are very significant. We have not heard opposition to the amendments. Maybe some have spoken in favor of them, but I don't agree with some of the amendments. The amendment of…

I think most of us knew that discussions were going on of that nature. We knew the deal. The deal is what all of you have agreed to. If you reach an accord, you are committed to vote for the deal on the floor, even if you agree with the…

I think I probably reserved my independence as a Senator to maintain my ability to make an independent evaluation of the legislation that was produced.

I strongly object to cloture. I believe it denies us the right to amend this bill which is seriously flawed. I note that the particular amendment I want to bring up is named for Charlie Norwood, a Congressman from Georgia, who died…

This is not a cover vote. It is not a cover vote at all. It leaves the bill exactly as it was. The problem with the legislation is that those people who are today illegal and would be made legal through the probationary status visa or the…

The earned-income tax credit will not be taken away from people who are illegally in the country today if my amendment is passed. The earned-income tax credit is a credit given to working individuals who have lower incomes to encourage…

My question, I guess, Mr. President, would be something like this: Perhaps it could be true that the large number of job applications received by Wal-Mart facilities is because even though Wal-Mart does not pay great wages, they do have…

So, also, I would note on behalf of Senator Cornyn's amendment that if prior conduct and convictions were not covered, you would have an immigration regime that essentially welcomes the following people, and this is not how the immigration…

I say to Senator Martinez that I thank him for that, but he was one of the people who stood firm on this issue of a more merit-based, competitive system of immigration, like Canada. Without his leadership, I know it would not have…

I thank the Senator. I agree. We are at the point of needing historic reform. I believe we could do that, but we ought to consider what Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have done to avoid the financial catastrophe we are headed for if we…

What we are debating here today is the largest tax increase that will take place in American history. As the Republican majority has done for a number of years, we recognize that America needs to be more competitive with the world in…

We simply are on the floor today to say that the means do not justify the ends. It should be done properly and constitutionally; just as it was done in 1978, it should be done today. We think the way that the Democrat majority is doing…

I believe shareholders would also be entitled to know who is attempting to influence them and what those words might be that they choose, rather than just beating up a company. I don't think it is good for anybody in this country to…

Mr. Chairman, it is quite simple that this is about transparency, and I think that is what this bill is about. It is about bringing transparency and some clarity to a shareholder, to be able to know a little bit more and to express…