In large parts of my district in Colorado it is no longer a discussion of saving the forest. Our forest has died off.

How is it that an executive gets $148 million. I mean how does that pay come about.

Are the owners of Countrywide actually having a say in what he is making? I mean, if I am the owner of the company, I am going to want that in my pocket as a dividend.

I would like to acknowledge the work of former Senator Ken Salazar on this project, he was a strong partner with me.

I applaud Secretary Shinseki and President Obama for bringing closure to this long-awaited decision to move forward with this project.

They deserve a medical facility worthy of their service.

Now, I am equally pleased that Senator Mark Udall and Senator Michael Bennet picked up where Senators Salazar and Allard left off.

Sometimes veterans, Mr. Chairman, have to wait months to see a doctor, and veterans with spinal cord injuries have to travel to other States for treatment.

I want to thank my colleague, Representative Perlmutter, for his hard work, and our former colleague, Senator and now Secretary Salazar, for leading the charge when it looked like the VA was going to back away from its promise to build a…

That's why the proposal for the development of a state-of-the-art veterans' facility at Fitzsimons was a centerpiece of the VA's capital construction plan under the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services, or CARES program.

It is again one of the highest priorities for the VA.

I am glad to have the chance to testify today about the new--and, we hope, final--plan for the VA Medical Center on the Fitzsimons campus in Aurora, Colorado.

We have a new, and we hope a final plan for the VA Medical Center on the Fitzsimons Campus in Aurora, Colorado.

Secretary Shinseki told us he supported a stand-alone facility.

It won't be easy. Just the sheer size and complexity of the Federal Government and the entrenched interests that often fight to protect certain programs--make this kind of work treacherous and too often thankless.

A liquidation of our domestic auto industry would have devastated our already struggling economy, caused painful job losses and impacted countless other business sectors.

The tension the Ranking Member talked about between--or the Government not involving itself in the day-to-day management decisions of the company, which I think is certainly the right approach.

I'm extremely concerned about the rapid increase in our budget deficit. Our fiscal trajectory is unacceptable in the long run.