Search: Veterans Oversight

“The 111th Congress is going to go down as one of the most productive in terms of its legislative accomplishments, their sweep and scope and breadth, certainly in our lifetimes and probably within the 20th century.”  –Norman Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute, December… Continue

“Congress must act without delay to reduce gun violence across our country, and we have an opportunity now with two bipartisan initiatives: one, the bipartisan amendment, Thompson, King, and Esty, to add $19.5 million to help states improve submissions to the national background check system. This is a system that works. It has bipartisan support on the bill. Today on the floor we are going to try to add that funding. Bipartisan – there is a bipartisan Thompson-King bill you are familiar with to expand and strengthen Brady background checks nationwide. One hundred eighty-nine Members are on the bill.”

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, held a press conference today in the Capitol Visitor Center.  Below is a transcript of the press conference: Leader Pelosi.  Good morning.  Sadly,… Continue

“So with that, nothing is going on the floor, but a great deal of advocacy going on outside the Chamber and outside the Capitol, whether it is “When Women Succeed, America Succeeds,” whether it is outside mobilization on immigration, whether it is outside mobilization on the “doc fix,” you name the subject, the country is aware and active on it. The only place that nothing is happening is here, and the opportunity cost of wasting time on the floor instead of creating jobs and addressing the challenges of the American people is something that the public must be aware of, because they have to know why their needs are not being addressed…”

“This week the number of Americans cut off from emergency unemployment insurance crested two million people – two million men and women who work hard, play by the rules, and lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Two million people cut off from unemployment benefits. Among those two million were close to 200,000 of our veterans who put their lives on the line to serve our country. We owe them a future and an economy worthy of their sacrifice. More than 150 Members have signed a letter asking Speaker Boehner to allow a vote, just give us a vote on UI in the name of our veterans struggling to find work.”

“…But hopefully this Budget Conference Committee will continue in a transparent way so we can have their agreement by September so that we can have the Appropriations Committee legislation in place, because that’s the next step to this, the blueprint for that. And so that the confidence during the shopping holidays is not undermined, consumer confidence; market confidence is not undermined…”

“As we go forward it has to be with a commitment, as the President said, to the American people, to the middle class, and not for us to be not opening our eyes to the fact that if this is going to happen, it has to be shared sacrifice, that we have to look at domestic discretionary spending, entitlement spending, and tax expenditures, that’s where the big money is, that is what remained untouched in all of this discussion and that is a place where I think we can find some area of agreement.”

The motion to recommit with instructions provides one final chance to amend a bill before it is passed by the full House of Representatives. The Rules of the 112th and 113th Congress provide for a motion to recommit with instructions “forthwith,” meaning the House must immediately vote on the bill, as amended, if the motion to recommit is adopted.

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi announced today that the Democratic Caucus had approved recommendations for a series of new appointments of Members of Congress to seats on key House committees in the 113th Congress. “In committees, on the floor, and… Continue

“Our Democratic Caucus is the most diverse in the history of Congress, and each of our Members will bring a unique perspective to the great challenges of our day – from job creation and economic growth to innovation, education reform, and clean energy development.”