Speeches
July 28, 2009, House Chamber, Washington, D.C. Mr. Speaker: In order to support the Democrats’ healthcare plan, we are asked to accept three arguments that are fundamentally absurd:
First, that the same government that pioneered $400 hammers and $600 toilet seats is somehow going to control healthcare costs;
July 21, 2009. House Chamber, Washington, D.C. M. Speaker: I want to thank my colleague from Utah, Mr. Bishop, for organizing this special order for the House tonight, and for the attention he has devoted to the suffering in my district caused by the lunatic fringe of the environmental movement that seems to be so firmly in control of our national policy on public lands.
July 10, 2009. Competitive Enterprise Institute. I know that everybody likes to poke fun at California – but I can tell you right now that despite all of its problems, California remains one of the best places in the world to build a successful small business.
All you have to do is start with a successful large business.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. June 26, 2009. Madam Speaker: When we discuss Herbert Hoover's mishandling of the recession of 1929, the first thing that economists point to is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that imposed new taxes on over 20,000 imported products.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. June 12, 2009. M. Speaker: Many years ago, author and commentator Bruce Herschensohn made this point. He said, for every pleasure in life, there is a corresponding risk.
I think that’s a universal truth: For every pleasure in life, there is a corresponding risk.
Tough Love for California. House Chamber, Washington, D.C. June 11, 2009 M. Speaker: Gov. Schwarzenegger of my home state of California has called for the federal government to underwrite as much as $15 billion of Revenue Anticipation Notes that the state has to issue to avoid insolvency.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. May 19, 2009. Mr. Speaker: I rise today with the sad duty of recognizing the death in combat of Army Specialist Jeremiah P. McCleery, age 24, of Portola, California.
Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Washington, D.C. May 16, 2009. Here, in the winter of our despair, I want to pause to take stock of the state of our nation on this date of May 16th.
April 29, 2009. Mr. Speaker: It comes down to this: Free societies punish acts. Authoritarian regimes punish opinions and thoughts.
The supporters of this bill speak of punishing violent acts – but we already punish those violent acts, as well we should. This measure calls for additional punishment not for the violent act itself but for the opinion behind the act.
April 22, 2009. M. Speaker: The statue of Ronald Reagan could not possibly arrive at the United States Capitol at a more appropriate time in the history of our nation.
In these difficult days, we need to remind ourselves as a nation what it was like when it truly was “morning again in America.”