Speeches
House Chamber, Washington, D.C.
November 6, 2009
M. Speaker:
This week the House passed HR 3548 that extends unemployment benefits in states with unemployment rates over 8 ½ percent for an additional 13 weeks. The measure also continues the popular $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers and adds a new $6,500 tax credit for homebuyers who are currently homeowners.
What’s at Stake
House Chamber, Washington, D.C.
November 3, 2009
M. Speaker:
What do Americans lose if Nancy Pelosi succeeds in taking over health care?
We’ll lose the freedom to shop around for the policy that best meets our own needs.
M. Speaker:
I rise today in defense of dissent.
It is a sad milestone when it becomes necessary to do so. But the ferocity with which this administration is pursuing its critics in business and journalism is becoming alarming.
House Chamber, Washington D.C. October 27, 2009. M. Speaker: The last time our unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent was in 1983.
Ronald Reagan responded by cutting taxes and reducing regulatory burdens on the economy, producing the biggest peacetime economic expansion in the nation’s history.
Today, President Obama is doing exactly the opposite. Obamacare and Cap and Trade and many other bills promise the biggest tax increases and heaviest regulations our country has ever seen.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. October 22, 2009. M. Speaker: I rise in opposition to the rule and in opposition to the underlying bill. And to explain why, I'd like to walk through a little history and a little math.
Let's begin with history and two important years: 1978 and 1839.
In 1978, the Wall Street Journal carried this headline: "Solar Power Seen Meeting 20 percent of Needs by 2000; Carter May Seek Outlay Boost."
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. October 20, 2009. Mr. Speaker: This bill names the Post Office in Portola, California in honor of Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery, who grew up in that town, and who returned to it as a fallen hero at the age of 24.
M. Speaker:
M. Speaker:
Those who blame the drought for the tragedy unfolding in California’s Central Valley ignore the fact that this is a very mild drought by historical standards and that in far worse droughts in the past, far more water was delivered to the Central Valley. I wonder if the proponents seriously deny that 200 billion gallons of water have been diverted to meet various environmental regulations.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. September 16, 2009. M. Speaker: This measure is very much a case study in how a public option becomes a public monopoly in the span of just a few years.
In 1993, the government created the Direct Loan Program under the pretext that it was just another option to increase consumer choice. There was only one problem: consumers never warmed to it. At its peak, the government Direct Loan Program only attracted 34 percent of loan volume. Today, even with the financial difficulties in the private sector, it has only earned 27 percent of the market.
It is an honor to be here today in the presence of such Titans as Senators Feinstein and Ensign and Governor Gibbons, who have done so much for the environment and the economy of Lake Tahoe. And it is, after all a dual mission that we have: first, to preserve and protect this beautiful resource for the enjoyment of future generations and second, within these parameters, to maximize its use for the enjoyment of the present generation.
These two goals are not mutually exclusive.