Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is, there have been thousands of amendments introduced, thousands of proposed amendments introduced to the Constitution of the United States. Only 17 have been adopted since 1791 after the Bill of Rights. Amendments were proposed after most unpopular Supreme Court decisions. After the… Read more »

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, today we are enduring the Republican rite of spring: A proposed amendment to the Bill of Rights to restrict what it calls flag desecration. Why spring? Because Members need to send out a press release extolling the need to protect the flag, as if the flag somehow needed Congress to protect it. It is easier than… Read more »

Mr. Speaker, this morning's New York Times reveals that a new classified assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency says Iraq may prove to be an even more effective training ground for Islamic extremists than Afghanistan was in al Qaeda's early days because it is serving as a real-world laboratory for urban combat and that Iraq, since the American invasion of 2003, had assumed… Read more »

Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this restrictive rule for not making in order the Waxman amendment to provide for an investigation by a bipartisan, independent commission of the detainee abuses alleged at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and other sites. Let me say at the outset that the men and women in our armed services ought to be praised for their selfless sacrifices. They deserve not… Read more »

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) indicated this does not implicate free speech. I would simply point out that we see movies all the time. In those movies we see actors dressed up as Nazis, as German soldiers in German World War II trampling and burning the flag. Do we go out and arrest those actors? Of course not, because we know the actors do not mean it; they are… Read more »

Mr. Chairman, although I believe in the values and principles expressed in the United Nations Charter, the organization has been hijacked by some member states who have betrayed those values. The use of blood libels by representatives of member states in official U.N. reports and by NGOs is unacceptable. It is time to do more to press the U.N. to reform. It is not enough to criticize… Read more »

Mr. Speaker, we are not here discussing the substance or the merits of the PATRIOT Act or the manner in which it was adopted 4 years ago or the sufficiency of the oversight of the PATRIOT Act by the Committee on the Judiciary. We will have plenty of time to discuss that on the floor in coming weeks. We are discussing the abuse of power and flouting of the rules by the chairman of the… Read more »

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution (H. Res. 324) as to a question of the privileges of the House and ask for its immediate consideration. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution. The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 324 Resolution disapproving the manner in which Representative Sensenbrenner has responded to the… Read more »

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition to the amendment. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the issue in this amendment has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments. It has nothing to do with whether the Ten Commandments,… Read more »

AMENDMENT NO. 9 OFFERED BY MR. NADLER Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment. The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Amendment No. 9 offered by Mr. Nadler: Page 108, after line 7, insert the following: TITLE VIII--ADDITIONAL GENERAL PROVISIONS SECTION 801. None of the funds made available in this Act… Read more »