Speeches

“I want to, Madame Speaker, to congratulate, I was going to call him Dutch, but Congressman Ruppersberger and the other Members of the Maryland delegation, more importantly, join them in congratulating the Ravens on a – they beat a mighty champion at the Super Bowl. As a proud 49er fan, who grew up on Johnny Unitas in Baltimore, going to those games as a teenager, and raising my own children on Joe Montana and Steve Young, you can just imagine how exciting this game was for me.”

“Well if the Ravens and the 49ers fans can come together, hopefully so can the Democrats and the Republicans on an issue of this grave concern to our country, our budget, which should be a statement of our national values. Instead, as Mr. Van Hollen said, we see the Republicans playing games with the budget. Playing games, that’s what they have been doing and that’s what they continue to do as we go into this spring. Well, we need to find solutions – playing games, it gives new meaning to the term ‘March Madness,’ because that’s what will result if we have to face a sequester. It’s a very bad idea; a sequester should be out of the question; and we should be talking about how we find a solution instead of a sequester.”

“Good afternoon, everyone. We are gathered here to celebrate something so momentous, when it passed twenty years ago in the Congress, and was sent to President Clinton, he said: ‘Family and medical leave is a matter of pure common sense and a matter of common decency. It will provide Americans what they need most: peace of mind. Never again will parents have to fear losing their jobs because of their families.”

“Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding, I thank him, our Ranking Member on the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Levin, our Ranking Member on Budget, Mr. Van Hollen, for their leadership and the clarity they have brought to the debate on the floor today. It’s very, it’s curious, it’s a curiosity that we have on the floor today, it’s a subterfuge, it distracts from the matter at hand. Madam Speaker, once again, as has happened too often in the last two years, we have come to the floor at a moment when our Republican colleagues are threatening the full faith and credit of the United States and putting the stability of our economy on the line.”

“Thank you. Thank you Madam Chair, Madam Speaker. I thank the gentle lady for yielding, I congratulate her on assuming the ranking position on the Appropriations Committee, and how good it is for our country and for the people affected by Hurricane, by superstorm Sandy, that Congresswoman Lowey, now Ranking Member Lowey, is in the position she is in to fight for their needs as the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. Thank you for your leadership. And thank you, Mr. Rogers, for yours as well.”

“Colleagues. Colleagues. To my fellow Members of the House of Representatives, it is a high honor to welcome you to the 113th Congress. To our newest Members of Congress, it is a special privilege and honor to welcome you and your families and extend congratulation to the newest Members of Congress, welcome.”

“Good morning everyone. Happy New Year. It is a Happy New Year indeed, isn’t it, that we have an ever expanding Congressional Black Caucus. Congratulations to all of the Members on their reelection who are coming back and congratulations to the new Members of the Congressional Black Caucus.”

“You know, Mr. Speaker, much has been said about the need for more civility in politics and in government and that civility perhaps relates to how we speak to each other and how we curb our enthusiasm about issues we care a great deal about and question, perhaps, motivation of others. But the real civility that people expect is how this Congress treats them and treats their needs. And never is that tested more clearly than in time of a natural disaster because that’s when people are the most helpless, that’s a time when they see whether the government is there for them or not. That is the time where – they’re not going to be made whole, most of these people – hopefully what they replace, it will be a good substitute and maybe they can open a door to something new for them. But by and large, by and large, it’s a long road back, but that first few steps of it – the emergency relief that was provided by the localities and now needs to be compensated for, the next stage of recovery is so essential to the character of a community and, as Mr. Tonko said, after the storms last year, it affected the character of the communities in his district and that was, what, 2011? Here we are at the end of 2012, having some of the same region hit again, hit again by nature, but the suddenness and the severity, the power of water and in some places fire and just earth shattering – earth, wind, fire – in terms of how it affects people.”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank him for his great leadership as our Ranking Member on the Ways and Means Committee and for bringing the clarity to our thinking on this important subject that we are dealing with this evening. My colleagues, many of this morning began the day with Vice President of the United States coming to the Democratic Caucus and speaking to us about legislation that passed the Senate last night 89 – 8. That is absolutely historic. It was legislation that he helped negotiate working the Republican and Democratic leaders in the United States Senate. It was a remarkable accomplishment, because as we all know, while we share the same goals, we sometimes have different paths to achieving them. And reconciling our differences was a monumental task, especially with the time growing short.”

“Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if you’ve ever had a natural disaster affect your area, or if you have ever visited a natural disaster, be it in California, my home state, or on the East Coast, or in the Midwest – whether Iowa and the floods, or Missouri in recent time, and spoke to and listened to the pain in the voices and saw the fright in the eyes of the people affected, you would wonder why we are not bringing this legislation to the floor because it isn’t about a natural disaster, it’s about human experience.”