William F. Smith

Mr. Speaker, the comments by opponents of this legislation simply do not represent the views of most Americans. They do not even represent the desires of a majority of the Members of their own party. Every substantive provision in this…

Would States be allowed to consider a parents' motive when deciding to terminate parental rights or seek reunification of this family, and could this include sincerely held religious beliefs of the parents?

Mr. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill today. It is a very, very fine product. H.R. 2202 is a much needed boost to our efforts against illegal immigration. Included in the bill are 5,000 new border patrol agents, more…

Mr. Speaker, several times today, various opponents have mentioned that we do not have in this legislation the Department of Labor inspectors. But I want to remind them that they have already lost that argument twice. That provision was…

I also see a new section has been added that requires the States to include in their State laws, as statutory grounds for termination of parental rights, conviction of parents for certain specified crimes against children. It also…

Does the bill address States' authority to pursue any legal remedies necessary to provide medical care or treatment when such care or treatment is necessary to prevent or remedy serious harm to the child, or to prevent the withholding of…

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that under CAPTA, States have been allowed to exempt parents from prosecution on grounds of medical neglect if the parent was employing alternative means of healing as part of the parent's religious…

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in support of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service Act. Time and again, former President Bush has served his country with distinction. As a young man, he volunteered to fight for his…

our children are our country's most precious resource. They are the hope of the future. But today many children will grow up in a cycle of poverty and dependence, and that is a tragedy, Mr. Speaker. Many of us came to Congress on a promise…

if my colleagues want to make the workplace more family friendly, I urge them to vote for the Working Families Flexibility Act. This bill provides working mothers and fathers with the choice of comp time pay or overtime pay. This option…

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3680 is designed to implement the Geneva conventions for the protection of victims of war. Our colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina, Walter Jones, should be commended for introducing this bill and for his…

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 740, introduced by the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Schiff] and the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Skeen] would permit the Pueblo of Isleta Indian Tribe to file a claim in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for certain…

Mr. Chairman, this is not a debate about whether to fund family planning or title X. The only question is whether we believe that parents should raise our children or whether we think that government officials should raise our sons and…

Mr. Speaker, today we are faced with several very different budget proposals. First we have the Clinton plan. The Clinton plan raises the deficit in 1997 and again in 1998, but promises somehow to balance the budget after the President…

I strongly support the terrorism prevention act, and want to commend our distinguished Judiciary Committee chairman, Henry Hyde, for his excellent work on this issue. The escalation of criminal and terrorist activity in our country is…

I think any Federal land policy of the kind that we are talking about, that means the way the current Endangered Species Act is being enforced, is in clear violation of the Constitution, particularly the fifth amendment. Until the…

I remember well that day you and I were together on that Texas ranch. When you tell someone that they may lose the right of use of their property, it does not take long for that rancher or farmer to decide they are going to clear the brush…

It is not the fact that the golden-cheeked warbler had ever landed in any of the foliage on that particular piece of property. It is not that they had at any time in the past. It is just that they some day might. There is no current use of…

I do not think the Endangered Species Act is being enforced as originally intended and, quite frankly, it has gotten out of balance. The balance is too great on the side of the regulations, and they do not take, in their enforcement…

the golden-cheeked warbler had never been seen on her property, past or present. It just might someday tend to land there. For that reason the regulations were imposed.

Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to join Chairman Young of the Resources Committee to discuss the critical need to fix the broken Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act needs to be reformed because the current law harms people and the…

Mr. Chairman, Mark Twain said, ``First you get your facts straight, then you can distort them all you want.'' I am afraid that we have heard some of that just a minute ago. In point of fact, when we consider both cash and noncash benefits…

I support this extension of the H-1A program which originally was effective for just 5 years. This will permit the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims to conduct hearings and otherwise investigate the competing interests relevant to…

Actually the chart that he showed shows the exact opposite, if I may say so. At the beginning of the Bracero program we had an increase in the number of illegal aliens coming into the country. The decrease that was caused was not by the…

the whole thrust behind this amendment is not to reform legal immigration. In fact, it is to kill any reform that we have in legal immigration. There is no separate legal immigration reform bill on the House side as there is on the Senate…