I was on an airplane returning to Washington, D.C., today when I learned of the President's proposal; that it was not his intention to have a summit this week where members of the majority party and the minority party had an opportunity to…

I want to inform you that among the issues that I heard about when I was home were still concerns from automobile dealers about franchises that have been put in jeopardy due to the automobile issue with General Motors; I heard about people…

I thank the gentleman for yielding because I have questions. My questions are the same kinds of things that my constituents are asking: Are Republicans just going to be window dressing in this event? Why were we invited if the President is…

So, how can the President say, if you like your insurance you can keep it, when the fact of the matter is, if your insurance does not comply with government standards, that you will be penalized under the Internal Revenue Code for keeping…

Two points I would like to make. One is this is not the same statutory pay-as-you-go as was in effect in the 1990s. During the years that President Clinton was working with a Republican Congress, they did balance the budget and they did…

I commend Chairman Spratt because I think deficits threaten our economic future, our children and grandchildren's future, and even the political independence of our country as we become more and more indebted to foreign nations.

I would really like to focus more in the future with my questions.

I agree with Ms. Lummis that we ought to focus more on the future than in the past.

I believe the ultimate solutions have to be on a bipartisan basis because, frankly, I don't think either political party... has the political will or even the political capability of making all the tough decisions alone.

I look forward to working with the President in a way that we can balance the budget and bring the American people back to have faith and confidence in its government because we return to founding principles. You know, there is an old…

If this is such a great bill, why do so many people need exemptions? Could that be part of the reason, the very simple question: If this is such a great bill, why does everybody want to be exempted from it?

Interestingly, over the August recess, when we were all at home having town hall meetings and the people had their opportunities to step forward and express their opinions about this bill, one of the leaders of the majority party in the…

The father of the Massachusetts Constitution, John Adams, died 50 years to the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed. And as he died, he said ``Jefferson lives.'' And ironically, Thomas Jefferson died that very same day, 50…

I think it is a tribute to you that over these many months of the last year, you have been stalwart in your support of the liberties of this country and the first principles of this country. The gentleman from New York (Mr. King) was so…

I favor reducing spending, which is something that neither Republicans nor Democrats have taken seriously.

It is a great discussion, considering the importance during this time, these recessionary times.

Has the Department produced an analysis of what tribes and tribal lands are affected by the Carcieri decision?

Isn't Congress still able as the legislative arm of government to recognize a specific tribe and authorize the Secretary to take lands into trust on behalf of that tribe?

Do you think that this legislation that we are looking at now impacts those previously negotiated matters under the Indian Claims Settlement Act?

I mean, these are sovereign nations, and yet we are layering extra hoops to jump through on them constantly.

I want to compliment Mr. Heinrich for putting this bill together.

That sounds really practical to me, so good for you.

I think it is good policy for Congress to sign off on bills without knowing all those specifics?

What I saw, Mr. Chairman, was references to things like 10,000 acres more or less.

We are comfortable with the bill as written.