mr. latourette. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. latourette: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank you for the recognition. this moment in time on the floor reminds me exactly during a period in the 1990's. there is a lot of publicity given to the new freshman class and the freshman class of 1994 is being neglected. welfare reform was the discussion. we -- our proposals were mean to pregnant women and children and poor people. the president of the united states, plirn, decided he wasn't going -- president clinton decided he wasn't going to be the president of the rhetoric. he was going to be the president of the united states. he signed the welfare bill. the friends at that time looked like their dogs had all died cause they were so depressed. president clinton cided to lead. now, i don't know what's going on in all of the other offices but we've taken a lot of phone calls over the last four, five weeks. some people call in tell me to hold the lines. some people call in an tell me i'm an idiot. but most says you have to work it out. to the

mr. latourette. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. latourette: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank you for the recognition. this moment in time on the floor reminds me exactly during a period in the 1990's. there is a lot of publicity given to the new freshman class and the freshman class of 1994 is being neglected. welfare reform was the discussion. we -- our proposals were mean to pregnant women and children and poor people. the president of the united states, plirn, decided he wasn't going -- president clinton decided he wasn't going to be the president of the rhetoric. he was going to be the president of the united states. he signed the welfare bill. the friends at that time looked like their dogs had all died because they were so depressed. president clinton decided to lead. now, i don't know what's going on in all of the other offices but we've taken a lot of phone calls over the last four, five weeks. some people call in tell me to hold the lines. some people call in and tell me i'm an idiot. but most says you have to work it out. t

mr. latourette. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. latourette: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank you for the recognition. this moment in time on the floor reminds me exactly during a period in the 1990's. there is a lot of publicity given to the new freshman class and the freshman class of 1994 is being neglected. welfare reform was the discussion. we -- our proposals were mean to pregnant women and children and poor people. the president of the united states, plirn, decided he wasn't going -- president clinton decided he wasn't going to be the president of the rhetoric. he was going to be the president of the united states. he signed the welfare bill. the friends at that time looked like their dogs had all died because they were so depressed. president clinton decided to lead. now, i don't know what's going on in all of the other offices but we've taken a lot of phone calls over the last four, five weeks. some people call in tell me to hold the lines. some people call in and tell me i'm an idiot. but most says you have to work it out. t

mr. latourette, did you call -- and say, ray, can you apologize? no. but likewise, the secretary did not call me and indicated that he was going to go and he continues to go on television talking about hostage takers and everything else. ray lahood is a friend of mine and throughout this entire process last week, i called him more than i called my wife and talked on a regular basis about where it was and what we were doing and he was very helpful in those things so, to then sort of turn on a dime when the democratic party here in washington has decided that hostage takers is the new drain the swamp, it's offensive to me. and i think he owes frank an apology. >> you say you don't believe it won't be resolved. do you think the senate will pass the bill as it is? >> the easiest path forward is that the senate passes what they've had for close to two weeks. believe that's what's going to happen at the end of the day but it's important to know that the speaker stands ready, willing and able to engage and find a way forward. >> do the democrats have any righ