on December 30, 2006, Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian-American scholar, was in Iran to visit her sick 93-year-old mother when she was stopped by the Iranian authorities. What followed was nearly 5 months of a series of intense…

the Republican Party and the President will make it clear today to the American people that they own this war; hook, line and sinker. The President and his Republican colleagues will be successful today in continuing the Iraq war, but this…

I would like to address America's legal black hole, known as Guantanamo Bay. The administration would like us to believe that the 15 prisoners that were very recently sent to Guantanamo are typical of the other 772 that have been sent…

Did he suggest that he thinks that the Iraqis have read this amendment? I'm not entirely sure you would agree that all of our colleagues have read this amendment. But do you really think the Iraqis have read this amendment?

The United States are liberators, we are not occupiers. And yet, our enemy is propagandizing to the people that they are trying to convert to their cause that we are there permanently to take their oil, to control their government, to…

Reclaiming my time. My only point is that this is so much about the message we send, and I think the message that we want permanent bases is the wrong message.

I thank very much my very good friend Chairman Rahall. He has shown a lot of courage and also caring and sensitivity to the situation that confronts these particular Indian tribes. I see my good friend Mr. Scott from Virginia, as well, who…

In this case, we are recognizing six. There was one tribe in the 1990s, the Narragansett Tribe, a similar prohibition against gambling was instituted. They don't gamble. This is about recognition.

The fact is that they have tried for 8 years to get recognition. But when you say that they are bypassing the process, the reason the process doesn't work is, in this case, the Commonwealth of Virginia made it legal to destroy all of the…

First of all, it is six tribes. The Governor of Virginia recognizes them, and the Commonwealth of Virginia has recognized them since it did away with the Racial Integrity Act. Senator Allen when he was Governor recognized them because they…

I would ask my friend from Connecticut to listen to my response to the points that he just made because I know he is a fair man. And when he considers the fact that, first of all, the Narragansett Tribe was recognized in the 1990s with a…

I didn't use the term ``outrage,'' but I do I think it is unfair. If I were a Native American member of any of these six tribes, I would feel badly that I wasn't treated the way other Native American tribes have been treated. It is a…

There was a white-tie dinner at the White House last night. The country, particularly Virginia, is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement. But these six Indian Tribes are the reason why those English settlers were…

last week the 2,100th American child had to be informed that they will never see their daddy or mommy again because their parent was killed in Iraq. Mr. Speaker, our military families deserve a policy worthy of their sacrifice. They…

I cannot imagine how more tragic life could be than to be the parent of a child and be told that their father or mother is not going to ever see them again, that he or she was killed in Iraq. This is the month of military families where we…

This is not just a nuisance industry. This is a malicious industry that represents a very, very serious public health threat. We are very much concerned that the interstate or international transport, especially of birds used for…

Today we will demonstrate that this Nation is not doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Forty years ago we were in another war. We had lost just about as many soldiers, about 3,000 young men, at this point in the Vietnam War. Our…

I would like to paraphrase a poem that Rudyard Kipling wrote upon the death of his son in World War I that seems particularly apt to the war in Iraq: When they ask why the young men died Tell them it's because the old men lied. Madam…

the President's proposal that he will announce tonight to increase rather than decrease the number of troops in Iraq defies the reality on the ground and the advice of our wisest military commanders. This decision will only serve to put…

this year's Republican Congress was dubbed the most do-nothing Congress of all time, because it refused to do its job. Every year, at the very least, Congress is supposed to pass a budget and the 10 appropriation bills that fund the…

no issue that Congress deals with is more important than our national security. As Democrats prepare to take control of the Congress this January, we are ready to move forward with an agenda that I believe will better secure our homeland…

Mr. Speaker, we are about to adjourn, and yet we are going to leave the American people without the resources and the legislation they need to provide the kind of security that the bipartisan 9/11 Commission said was necessary. Five F's…

I oppose this bill. It would send a message to the world that the United States can disregard international treaties and law and, instead, do as it pleases. For generations, we have been the beacon to guide the actions of other nations. If…

one duty we share as Members of this body is a solemn responsibility to make certain that we do everything possible to ensure the safety of the American citizens that we are elected to represent. Unfortunately, when it comes to homeland…

this week marks a critical time for the people of Darfur and for this administration's role in ending the 3-year genocide in Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been murdered by the government-backed Janjaweed, and the…