It really pains me to not be able to help my friend from Ohio, who is a valued member of the Appropriations Committee, who was an outstanding member of the Interior Subcommittee when I was chairman, and who I enjoy working with very much…

First of all, I want to thank the entire staff of the House Appropriations Committee for the fantastic work that they have done. No one better exemplifies those qualities than Mr. John Blazey. One of the best moves we made was to steal him…

To make cuts back to the 2006 level for defense, homeland security, and veterans affairs would do enormous damage to the country. I mean we would be talking about $65, $70 billion in defense, homeland security. And VA would be very…

If the majority party really wanted to do something about the deficit, they could look to other parts of the budget for significant cuts in savings instead of coming back over and over again with ever-deeper cuts to the programs that make…

I appreciate the gentleman yielding. I understand there is a school of thought that we should just let nature take its way. But on the west coast of Washington State, we have from time to time had to come out and put in replenishment…

I completely agree with my friend from Washington State, Mr. Hastings, the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, that this violates the law of the land. There is no scientific basis for what is happening here. We have submarines and…

Let me remind my colleagues what the underlying CR does to existing programs even before we consider the additional across-the-board cut offered by Mr. Jordan: A cut of $107 million from food safety inspections. This amendment by Mr…

I hear so much talk on the other side that the stimulus program didn't--reputable economists say the unemployment rate would be at 12.5 to 13 percent if we hadn't had the stimulus package. And again, that's why we're so worried about the…

I rise in reluctant opposition to this amendment for the same very reason. The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle is coming to an end. I agree with the chairman. It makes me cringe that they have spent $3 billion on this, but for an additional…

I would just say to the gentleman from New Jersey that I was in almost all of the meetings in our caucus. This bill was read provision by provision, sentence by sentence, and we had the staffers there who wrote these provisions under the…

I agree that the Yellow Ribbon Program has been a top priority of the subcommittee. We have worked tirelessly to ensure our brave men and women and their families are taken care of when they are serving the Nation.

I just want to say to the gentleman, the Oregon Public Utility Commission has ruled that, from the standpoint of the rate-paying public, the settlement agreement is preferable to relicensing under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission…