Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano), my good friend, the vice ranking member of the full Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Minnesota, as you know, is the national leader in renewable fuel and Xcel Energy is the largest wind energy provider in the Nation.

Not only do you need broadband for precision agriculture, but we also need it for things like monitoring the temperature in barns.

I think we all know the trucking industry plays a critical role in getting goods to market.

I appreciated that Senator Fischer raised the issue of the state commercial motor vehicle safety program.

federal investments in R&D have paid off handsomely in the past and are vital to our continued success as a nation

the Administration planned to gut our federal commitment to energy R&D

the operating tempo has been drastically increased so the number of training days for National Guard soldiers went from 60 to 90.

when someone's hourly wage increase for a job that they are doing is cut from $21 to 11--to $14 an hour, it sends a message to the people who had been previously doing this job: You can work for less money, or your work is not valued.

Sometimes it is a very heavy family discussion about whether or not people are going to stay in the Reserves.

The operating tempo has been drastically increased so the number of training days for National Guard soldiers went from 60 to 90.

What can we do to help you? What is your team doing to ensure that families of these soldiers and airmen...?

This just isn't about leadership to put up and to be quiet about it. This is also about leadership to see if we need to go back and review and figure out how these folks are not only trained but deployed in the future.

We are going to be watching to see what happens with county veterans service offices in Minnesota's caseloads.

I find this budget to be completely out of balance with the needs of the American people.

I commend people who decide to continue in the Reserves after their discharge.

It sends a message to the people who had been previously doing this job: You can work for less money, or your work is not valued.

I am going to touch on something, and then I have a question.