Norman D. Dicks

This has become the issue of this war, when more people are dying of suicide than are in combat. We don't want to lose any lives. It means that there is a serious problem. And we want to work with you to address that.

With all due respect, we have accepted the gentleman's previous amendment. On this one we have already added $20 million to the budget for this purpose, and we will, if necessary, go higher in conference because of the gentleman's concern…

I agree with the chairman. This Gulf War Illness has been something that bothered me a great deal. This was a very difficult diagnosis, what was causing this. But I think an additional investment here is worthy, and I think we should…

I would also support the gentleman in efforts to find another less objectionable source for the funding.

To my good friend from California, I appreciate the attention that you bring to this issue. It seems that this is a commonsense thing that the Department can do to save millions of dollars with no negative impact to the security clearance…

There is no emergency requirement here? I mean, this work is work that can be done over a staged period of time, and there is no real serious problem that could have an adverse effect on the Capitol, is there?

Apparently, we would have to go back in the House and ask unanimous consent if we wanted to go out of order on this. Maybe it's just better to wait for the gentleman from Arizona to get here. Since we're here, what is the plan for phase…

If we have another Member, could we go out of order by unanimous consent? Is that a problem?

Reclaiming my time, do you think they deserve a trial? Do these people deserve a trial.

In my own State of Washington, we had Ahmed Ressam, the millennium bomber. He came across from Victoria on a ferryboat, and as he was going through the search procedures, he showed anxiety. Because of that, he was sent over for a secondary…

I want to associate myself with the gentleman's comments and the chairman's comments on this amendment. We're talking here about homeland security, and we have been hit before. And we can't have a meat-ax, across-the-board approach. We…

The only thing I would say to my friend is, if you know where all these programs are, you ought to cut the programs and not do an across-the-board cut. That is the easy way out.