Speeches
June 21, 2018
Speeches
My amendment takes all the policy reforms in the budget resolution and writes those savings into the reconciliation instructions. This does not change a single recommendation that we have been debating. It simply implements them – about $3.55 trillion over ten years after removing interest payments and non-reconcilable items under the Byrd Rule. During my eight years on this committee, my greatest frustration is that every year we make policy recommendations, and then claim that the budget will balance within the decade based on those recommendations
Issues:
June 19, 2018
Speeches
Statement on the Border
It is a federal crime to cross the border illegally. If it was not a crime, our borders would be meaningless.
May 17, 2018
Speeches
Farm subsidies – essentially taking money from taxpayers to inflate the price of their groceries – was never a good idea. They are the poster children of corporate welfare. After all, the vast proportion of them go to large corporations – not small family farms.
May 17, 2018
Speeches
This amendment does two things. It increases from 20 percent to 70 percent the percentage of able bodied adults in SNAP who would be required to comply with the work requirements in the bill. And it requires the use of the e-verify system to assure that job training is provided only to those legally residing in this country and entitled to work here.
May 11, 2018
Speeches
A recent editorial in the Modesto Bee ridicules the “naming” bills that I have authored, especially the naming of a mountain in the Sierra as “Sky Point.” Each of these laws honors young men from our district who died in combat. “Sky Point” was named in honor of Marine Staff Sergeant Sky Mote who died defending his station in Afghanistan in 2012.
Issues:
May 8, 2018
Speeches
I don’t claim to be an expert in the intricacies of the Byzantine web of price supports, insurance subsidies, commodity rules, Agriculture Risk Coverage, Price Loss Coverage, Marketing loans, disaster aid and all the other components of the mess we’ve made of our agricultural markets. What I do know is this. Prices, if left alone, convey a wealth of information upon which consumers depend to make rational decisions. Those rational decisions, in turn, direct all production to the greatest need and all investment to its highest possible use.
April 27, 2018
Speeches
I have offered this amendment whenever the opportunity has presented itself, because it tests whether there is any program in the federal budget that Congress can bear to cut.
Issues:
April 26, 2018
Speeches
In December, we adopted one of the most important tax reform laws in our nation’s history. It is producing higher wages, better job opportunities, and greater economic expansion than we’ve seen in a decade. But having cut taxes, we assumed an urgent responsibility to restrain spending. Taxes and debt are two sides of the same coin. A debt is simply a future tax. Once we’ve spent a dollar, we’ve already decided to tax it, either now or in the future. It’s the spending that’s the problem.
Issues:
April 10, 2018
Speeches
James Madison, the father of the American Constitution, said that its most important provision was giving the Congress, and not the President, the authority to declare war.
April 10, 2018
Speeches
It’s important to ask ourselves how the tax reform is doing, and I thank my colleague for organizing this time tonight. In my district, the average family is paying $1,900 LESS federal income tax this year – which means $1,900 MORE they can spend to meet their needs.
Issues: