I also want to mention support for the neotropical bird, which includes, as I am sure the Chairman knows, the Baltimore Oriole.

Thank you for conducting this hearing. Thank you for your leadership on this legislation.

This puts us in a much stronger position when you have an authorization.

There is no other way to get competitive marginal business tax rates in this country without bringing different revenues into funding government other than income tax revenues.

I believe that the only way we can get to strong bipartisan tax reform is by having a public and transparent tax reform process.

Tax reform, in order to be successful, must have certain conditions met. One is an open process, transparency.

It has to be fair, which means middle-income taxpayers should not pay any more of the cost of our government percentage-wise than they are paying today.

The major concern we heard today is, will middle-income families pay more? That is something which I said I would not support.

We have to raise the revenue that we say we are going to raise so we do not add to the deficit.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I was tempted to stop at that podium. One of my Republican predecessors used to come over here a long time ago and speak to Democrats from this podium and then walk back and speak to his…

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton)

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to, again, commend Mrs. Comstock for her leadership on this legislation. I thank all of our fellow members in the regional delegation in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia for their collaborative…

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.J. Res. 76. This very important legislation grants congressional consent and approval to Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia to…

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our distinguished minority whip, who has been a longtime champion of the Metro system.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), a distinguished Delegate

Mr. Speaker, may I just inquire how much time I have remaining? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maryland has 4 minutes remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, when I was a kid in high school, they built the Metro system here. It was a great feat of bipartisan leadership when they built the Metro, and it changed my life. It was the…

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.J. Res. 92. I thank my colleague from Virginia (Mrs. Comstock), the chairman of the committee, for leading this measure, and I am very happy…