We must build on this fragile recovery. We cannot go back to the policies that put us in this mess.

The President's budget does that.

This will allow us to put people back to work rebuilding and modernizing our schools, roads, and bridges.

It asks our highest earners to return to the same tax rate in place during the Clinton Administration.

Thank you, Mr. Altmire, and thank you for the work that you've done for us in western Pennsylvania. Indeed, at one time, I know, when I was growing up, it was the center of the American steel industry and manufacturing there, and to the…

Mr. Tonko, you are so very correct about reigniting the American Dream. One of the dreams I have is to drive down Interstate 5 in California and not have my car knocked to pieces on the unimproved and the falling-apart highways. In America…

Thank you, Mr. Altmire, for getting us started. And I've got to compliment you on the really neat segue that you used, the Erie Canal to move to modern transportation. That was very nicely done. We do have a real challenge. This week…

Mr. Altmire, I was about to respond that, while the lighting at Rensselaer is obviously good, it's California where the light-emitting diode--the LED--is actually being manufactured by a new startup company called Bridgelux, which has…

Mr. Altmire, if you could wait just a moment. Now you've got me engaged in this, and you talked about your community college. We are going to be going to our community college in Fairfield, the Solano Community College, and we're going to…

Mr. Tonko, thank you. And you really hit one of those issues directly, particularly the education issue. And we ought not jump to transportation before we deal with the investment in the human capital, that is, in the American worker. And…

Thank you very much for pointing out the eye of the eagle. We have to keep our eye on this particular prize, and that's rebuilding the American manufacturing sector. I handed this chart to Mr. Tonko a while ago. It really needs a further…

Indeed we do. We have much work to do. Mr. Altmire, you've been working long and hard here in the U.S. Congress on these issues. Carry on this discussion.

You mentioned something that we actually talked about last week. I want to hand you this chart. If you would hold that one up there and let me go back to the microphone. You mentioned the effort that we made in the 2002 change from a…

Mr. Tonko, thank you so very much, and thank you for your extraordinary experience in dealing with research and then translating that research into real things that Americans could make. Now, the great manufacturing center of America is…

Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I'm joined tonight by two of my colleagues, Mr. Tonko from New York and Mr. Altmire from Pennsylvania. We're going to be talking about the President's budget and about one of the issues that we think…

We have work to do indeed. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________

We need more comprehensive--not from you, but from us--energy policy.

Is it not a fact that we are hundreds of millions of dollars behind in maintenance at the National Parks?