I want to thank the Members on both sides of the aisle for their courtesies over the past 42 years, and I want to say that it has been a privilege for each and every one of us, whether we have served here one term or 21 or even more, it is…

He tells the truth fearlessly, and he is a patriot in every sense of the word. I will miss David's commitment, his dedication, and his integrity. And though soon no longer to be a colleague, he will always be my friend, and I think I know…

I happen to agree with the gentleman from Virginia on the substance of the issue. But the fact is that the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee voted in open session with open debate to adopt the Cole amendment. Now, as chairman of the…

Mr. Speaker, I'm bringing a resolution to the floor that I have minimum high regard for, to say the least. America is facing serious problems, the most depressing is that we have the biggest divide between the haves and the have-nots since…

This amendment was a Republican amendment offered by Mr. Cole from Oklahoma. It was not slipped in. It was voted in in the subcommittee appropriation bill 5 months ago.

When I came here, I don't think there were very many Members who would reach a conclusion that if someone disagreed with them on substance that somehow they were morally defective. In a civilized, adult, legislative body, Members would…

You don't get a second chance to educate kids. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that this package will do as much as we ought to be doing to ease the squeeze on the national economy. We will have partially offset with this bill…

I would describe this bill as a fiscally responsible jobs bill. It is below the President's request by $1.3 billion, and below last year by one-half billion dollars. Last year, the Recovery Act demonstrated that investments in…

To hear the gentleman talk, you would think that this bill is being gobbled up by a huge number of earmarks, causing the deficit to explode. The gentleman used a chart. I've got a chart too. This bar represents the total spending in this…

The way I see it, we're watching a let's pretend attack on the deficit tonight by singling out these items that cost about a million bucks. If Members are concerned about the deficit, I would ask, why did they vote for two tax cuts…

I also want to congratulate the gentleman from Texas for the superb job he has done in putting this bill together. It is a well-balanced bill, and everyone understands the gentleman's convictions and his passionate desire to defend the…