In response to some of the arguments that have come up earlier, I would like to make just a couple of observations, one dealing with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. It is charging user fees historically, and it is a U.S…

My bill would provide Customs with new, necessary search tools in light of America's new security needs while balancing the need for privacy. The Rangel substitute guts some key provisions. By striking the outbound mail provision, the…

today we honor a man who has had a profound impact on the lives of us all, a positive impact that has had a reverberating positive effect, not just here in the United States, but worldwide. In the past I have taken time on this floor to…

I am pleased that every version of stimulus legislation--whether originating in the Administration, either body of Congress, Republican or Democrat--has included a provision to allow companies which have incurred losses this year to carry…

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3008 is a bill to reauthorize the trade adjustment assistance programs for 2 years until September 30, 2003. The current authorization expired in September but is continuing subject to the continuing resolution adopted…

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3129, the Customs Border Security Act of 2001, would authorize the budget for the U.S. Customs Service, International Trade Commission, and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It also includes a number of critical…

What TPA does is let us participate in the process during the negotiating process, with consultation before, during and after the agreement is reached with another country. The important thing to keep in mind is we had President Clinton go…

This year we had a hearing to take testimony from witnesses about the state of affairs in Africa, and we all acknowledged the tragic facts of the illicit diamond trade and how it continues to fund rebel wars and poverty in Africa. As I…

I have spent my career working to expand international trade. I firmly believe that free trade, economic stability and political freedom go hand-in-hand. The bill before us today will continue to encourage growth and stability in the…

the necessity of passing H.R. 3005, a bill to renew trade promotion authority, is epitomized by the experience of Caterpillar, headquartered in my home State of Illinois. Caterpillar's motor graders made for export to Chile face nearly…

I stand in firm support of House Joint Resolution 51, which approves the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement, grants NTR status to Vietnam, completes the normalization of our diplomatic relations begun in 1995. A failure to support this…

I rise, today, to discuss a specific issue regarding H.R. 1140, the Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001, specifically, the representation of commuter rail on the Board of Trustees for the Railroad Retirement…

I have long advocated making changes to the tax code designed to encourage charitable giving. Indeed, I have promoted some of the proposals contained in the legislation we have before us today, including the charitable IRA rollover and the…

I want to praise President Bush for putting forth an education plan that offered children in failing schools a chance to get a better education. It is too bad that Democrats and supporters of the failing status quo were allowed to gut the…

Clause 2(b) of rule XXI states that no provision changing existing law shall be reported in any general appropriation bill. However, this provision would prevent the use of appropriated funds to allow the placement of diamonds from certain…

the issue before us today is a simple one. It is simply unconscionable that the federal government of the United States would impose a tax penalty on the holy state of matrimony. Of the many outrages contained in our federal tax system…

we have heard expressions here on the floor today as we have heard in the past during our debates on this issue of persecution of Christians, Muslims and other groups in China which is a legitimate and serious concern. However, the U.S…

In 1990, before the WTO, trade protection cost U.S. consumers approximately $70 billion per year. Trade barriers hit the lowest income consumers the hardest because they have to spend a greater share of their paychecks on the everyday…

As a member of the WTO the United States does commit to act in accordance with the rules of the multilateral body. It is legally obligated to ensure national laws do not conflict with WTO rules. Not quoted, however, in this quote from…

Mr. Speaker, we have heard references made to jobs; we have heard references made to our trade deficits. The economic concerns involved in trade are important, but I think it is important for us to recognize that trade plays a critically…

Deficit spending has run rampant for too long. The federal debt has ballooned to nearly $6 trillion. With this legislation for the first time since 1917 we are reversing this trend. Uncle Sam will actually begin to pay off our $6 trillion…

I rise today to address the tax that is one of the most obscene, unfair, and immoral of all taxes. The estate tax, or what is commonly referred to as the death tax, since it is generally triggered only by one's removal from productive…

Mr. Speaker, I want to take advantage of this opportunity to commend my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are supportive of this effort that we are initiating here with Mainland China, one-fifth of the world's population. And I…

Congress takes an historic step today in considering legislation to grant normal trade relations to China. We do this to position our workers, firms, and farmers to take maximum advantage of the vast opportunities offered as a result of…

Mr. Chairman, I respect the passion that my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), has. But I would remind him that he should go back to reexamining what his former governor, Ronald Reagan, did with…