Jerry Lewis: “I rise to express to the body my deep appreciation for the work of my chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young)…”

“I rise to express to the body my deep appreciation for the work of my chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), in this entire matter. As many of my colleagues know, our Subcommittee on Defense had come together to mark up the base bill of $317 billion on the very morning of September 11, only to adjourn our meeting for obvious reasons. All of us recognized that America was faced with a new challenge like we had never faced in our own lifetimes. And indeed, since that time, the chairman and the ranking member, those people who are involved in defense appropriations, have worked hand in hand to try to make sure that we laid the foundation to be certain there was enough funding available to see us through these very difficult months ahead. The challenge is real, and all of us are committed to winning this war against terrorism. If it should go forward well beyond the few months ahead of us, there will absolutely be a need for additional funding. I intend to give all of my personal effort to making certain that adequate funding is available.”