Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3514, as amended, the Pennsylvania National Forest Improvement Act of 2004, introduced by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson), authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to sell or convey six parcels of land from…

I should start by congratulating the gentleman from New York (Mr. Reynolds) for introducing this resolution, and I rise in wholehearted support of it, which brings our attention to the goals and purposes of National Farm Safety and Health…

I rise today to discuss a government program that presents a serious national security threat and is wrought with fraud and abuse, the visa lottery program. Under the program, each successful applicant is chosen at random and given the…

I never once said that this is redundant. What I said was there is language in the bill that protects an individual from being sued, a business from being sued by an individual, if they ate tainted meat. But the gentleman's amendment would…

Spam is not just a nuisance anymore. Over half of the e-mail sent today is spam. Unsolicited e-mail, such as advertisements, solicitations, or chain letters is the junk mail of the Information Age. At best these unwanted messages burden…

Today, we are finally able to bring the Healthy Forests Restoration Act, H.R. 1904, for a vote. In spite of a severely flawed process to arrive at this point, we have driven a hard bargain, and we have got a bill that the President will…

I will clarify a point that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) is interested in. Let me state that the projects authorized by title IV are primarily scientific efforts, and scientific methods should be the primary means of assessing…

It is critically important given what happened in California just a few weeks ago and what is going to happen again next year that we pass this legislation promptly so we can begin the process. It is going to take a long time. The…

Mr. Speaker, I will just say very briefly that this motion to instruct conferees offered by the gentleman from Texas is very welcome. It is exactly what we need. We hope the message is received, not only here on the House side, but also on…

This bill addresses not just fire hazards. Do not forget we have a very evil beetle out there, and these beetles go out there, and they are like a cancer on a tree. It is like once that beetle lands on that tree, that tree is dead, and…

There have been catastrophic fires in South Dakota, but there was even more importantly a recognition that there were vast areas, not just the so-called beauty strips immediately around communities, but vast areas of the Black Hills…

New Mexico last year suffered some devastating fires which we thought would be just the thing that would cause Congress to get over the top and get this issue resolved. Unfortunately, we fell short; but we are back again this year, and we…

I hope that what was done by this Congress for the State of South Dakota 2 years ago will be done for the other 49 States as well. In fact, we do not even ask quite as much. We simply ask for fair treatment, and we hope that we will get it…

Mr. Speaker, the Nation is well aware of the problem we have with our national forests. The wildfires in California for the past 2 weeks have made it all too painfully clear that we need to take measures to protect our forests. The…

I wish that I were not here on the floor of the House pleading the case to start formal negotiations. This issue has dragged on needlessly for the entire legislative session. We need to discharge our duty, follow regular order, and conduct…

We mentioned this earlier. It is indeed disappointing that the opportunity would exist for anyone to jump the gun, if you will, to get an opportunity to do the right thing, and we are glad that the State of South Dakota has the tools that…

A healthy forest means safe communities. That is what we are really talking about here. If we get to the root cause of this problem, which is our unhealthy forests, we will not see the kind of disasters that we have seen in recent years…

One of the areas that we overlook not only are the water pollution problems that occur, but also air pollution. The fires in California have emitted so many toxic fumes and other forms of air pollution that some are saying that more…

Today the House asked for conferees to meet with the other Chamber to work out differences on the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, H.R. 1904. This evening, I am pleased to be joined by some of my colleagues on the House side to talk about…

Animal medicines are used to assist livestock producers raising and maintaining healthy, high quality stock and ultimately, in delivering safe and wholesome food to American dinner tables. They are also used to keep pets healthy, which…

The courts have already held that that language does not allow the intervention unless there is effectively a fire already taking place. If you want to actually prevent a fire from occurring, that language is not effective.

But, again, this is something that has just been brought to my attention, and we would be happy to look into it and see what we can find in that regard and try to achieve some specificity in terms of how the dollars are going to be spent…

I rise in support of H.R. 2474, a bill that provides for the continuation, for 2003 and 2004, of a fellowship program honoring our colleagues, the Honorable Bill Emerson and the Honorable Mickey Leland. Last year, Congress authorized the…

it is not a delay, it is an expedition. Quite frankly, they have no different treatment in Federal courts than State courts.

I am pleased to support it, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition Act, because it is an important first step in the fight against Internet gambling. It hits illegal gambling institutions where it hurts the most: their pockets…