The $167 million cut in the Rural Education program is really not acceptable.

In Iowa, it is estimated 56 percent of all the schools will be designated next year as needing improvement under the No Child Left Behind law.

The President's budget is far from adequate to help schools meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.

I am very concerned that the supplemental request is insufficient in homeland defense.

If that is the case, then there has to be some cuts in other Cabinet agencies.

It does not help schools meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind.

The President will not support more than $53.1 billion.

The President's budget would increase Education Department funding by $26 million or .05 percent.

That is unconscionable.

I am so pleased that President Bush has embraced the concept of National Service, and I do want to work with him in a bipartisan way.

This starts with providing those veterans with access to the quality health care they deserve.

For me, fully funding the VA is a national security issue.

I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Subcommittee to ensure full funding for the VA.

We owe each of them a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid.

Rather than addressing the problem and providing the needed funding, the President apparently has decided his solution is to turn veterans away from the system.

I am concerned that the Corporation actually violated the law.

Mr. Secretary, you did the right thing. It was not popular, but doing something popular is not always right, and doing something right is not always popular.

Last month, I along with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced a comprehensive bill, 'The Omnibus Mercury Emissions Reduction Act', to control mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources.