This legislation is needed to offer gay and lesbian Federal workers true equality and benefits and ensure fairness in the workplace.

the Federal employee who is in a same-sex partnership, whether they are married, in a marriage recognized at their State level or not, would have to file an affidavit of eligibility relating to their domestic partnership in order to…

it made much more sense to create this mechanism to provide the employment fringe benefits, and that's what this bill is limited to.

You are not misreading that, but as Director Berry indicated, in their review of the legislation, OPM has come up with a number of technical recommendations, and that would be one.

this inequality exists on the Federal level despite the significant expansion in the availability of employment-related benefits and equal treatment for domestic partners.

I support the Swiss Center of North America not just because it will be located in my district.

I rise today to explain the reasons I voted against the Omnibus Appropriations Conference Report. This bill has both good and bad parts. But unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the bad outweighs the good.

This bill contains disastrous dairy policy. It allows the Northeast Dairy Compact, a pricing scheme that gives dairy farmers in the six Northeastern states higher prices for their milk, to continue for two more years.

It is wrong to add this measure to this must-pass legislation without debate.

For over sixty years, Wisconsin farmers have struggled with the inequity of the current pricing system, which sets milk prices according to the distance from Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

The bill provides funding for the class size initiative that permits the hiring of 100,000 new teachers so that our children can have smaller, more effective classes.