Following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, $3 per gallon gasoline became common and our nation has come under considerable strain.

In addition, each barrel of oil we save through conservation further decreases our dangerous reliance on unstable Middle East oil.

In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, our nation has been put under considerable fiscal pressure.

We must have a relentless commitment to producing a meaningful, comprehensive energy package aimed at conservation, alleviating the burden of energy prices on consumers, decreasing our country's dependency on foreign oil, and increasing electricity grid reliability.

We haven't had a good energy policy in this country for decades and we're trying to get one.

As the cost of gasoline rises and our dependence on foreign oil continues to increase, the effect of sending over $100 billion each year to OPEC nations hurts every American.

The Declaration of Independence is a sacred part of American history.

We are putting more and more power into a system which is less and less able to carry it reliably.

Specifically, the growing threat that sexual predators pose to our Nation's children and their families represents an area where our criminal justice system has failed the American people.

In order to effectively protect our loved ones, we must provide the American public with unfettered access to know who these dangerous criminals are and where they are living.

I believe it is incumbent upon Congress to act aggressively to ameliorate fear and help our country take the essential steps that will make our communities and lives safer.

The current system punishes communities which make the investment in creating landfills, only to have them filled by states which refuse to adequately address their waste issues.

Spending on programs such as national defense and funding the operating budgets of all federal agencies represent only 39 percent of our yearly budget, an all-time low.

Following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, $3 per gallon gasoline became common and our nation has come under considerable strain.

In this life and death case, I felt Mrs. Schiavo should receive the fullest due process from our legal system.

The American economy has always been driven by the entrepreneurial nature of its citizens, and blocking access to affordable health care will only suffocate growth within the small business sector of our economy.

The beliefs expressed in the Declaration of Independence remain a standard for our nation today. They also remain a standard for those nations across the globe striving to achieve democracy.

It has been a top priority of Congress to reduce the drug costs of all seniors.

We should not forget, no matter how we quantify it: 'Freedom is not free.' It is a painful lesson, but one from which we have learned in the past and one we should never forget.

It does seem fair to give them the option of a better return.

While there are many influences on gas prices in America, I believe the passage of a national energy bill will help relieve this burden on our country.

More than seven months ago, our country learned that the horrors portrayed in Hollywood's make-believe world could actually come to life before our very eyes.

To date, every American citizen has nearly $27,000 in public debt riding on our backs.

The lack of health care coverage has remained very important to me during my time in Congress and as a member of the House Subcommittee on Health, I am working hard with my colleagues to correct these inequalities.

Enrolling in the Medicare Prescription Drug Program will be a great savings for most senior citizens.

America's health care system provides some of the finest doctors and more access to vital medications than any country in the world. And yet, our system has been faltering for many years with the increased cost of health care.

Americans in all places and levels of government have begun to consider the areas where we need to prepare ourselves from future threats, including the latest weapon: bio-terror.

While not widely reported, our victories in Iraq are plentiful. National elections, a democratic parliament and the drafting of a constitution are just some of the victories throughout this embattled country.

Insurgents throughout Iraq continue to threaten our efforts and pose a danger to stability in the region. They fight not for their country, but rather against ours.

I represent the views and the values of the people of the district.

The Declaration is a magnificent document.

The fact is, almost every year since the founding of these United States, our government has lived beyond its means.

Among the many important provisions in the energy bill are the creation of an estimated half million new jobs, increased oil production, blackout protection, controlling fertilizer costs by stabilizing natural gas prices and enacting new efficiency benchmarks.

But, after all, we are a young nation, and vanity is a fault of youth.

Saddam Hussein has been tenacious in his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and, unless he is removed from power, he will eventually harm our nation and our allies. Every moment we delay allows him to grow stronger.

As a nation we should commit ourselves not only to the fight against terrorism, but to economic justice, defeat of the AIDS epidemic and vestiges of discriminatory policies of all kinds.

Once to every person and nation come the moment to decide. In the conflict of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side.

We are a communicating nation which needs access to space, access to the seas.

While I recognize the great value and importance of prescription drugs and strongly support a continued U.S. focus on pharmaceutical research and development, our nation's seniors cannot be asked to subsidize the drug costs of other wealthy industrialized nations any longer.

Yesterday in this country we had people die of hunger and malnutrition. In some parts of this country, the infant mortality rate rivals that of sub-Saharan Africa. We have a public education system that ranks below that of almost any other Western nation.

What the F.D.I.C. does is to put the full faith and credit of the United States government behind every savings account in the nation, up to a limit that has changed over the years and stands now at $100,000.

This nation was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the principle - among others - that honest men may honestly disagree; that if they all say what they think, a majority of the people will be able to distinguish truth from error.

It affords me sincere pleasure to be able to apprise you of the entire removal of the Cherokee Nation of Indians to their new homes west of the Mississippi.

Our brave soldiers and support personnel are engaged in a battle as important as any the United States has ever before waged, for the success of democracy in Iraq is a crucial test of the ideals this Nation was founded upon.

Our nation is built on the bedrock principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

How strange it is that murder has the sanction of law in one and only one of the human relationships, and that is the most important of all, that of nation to nation.

The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.

Faith crosses every border and touches every heart in every nation.

We would certainly welcome the recipient nation to put their inspectors on our shores, if they wanted to make that investment to help protect that shipment that is outgoing.