You had a lot of people speaking to your extraordinary career here, and I didn't want to cut it short. Your advice is sound and, hopefully, taken by all of us.

I join my colleagues here in Congress from both sides of the aisle to call for an end to the war in Afghanistan. After more than a decade of war, with now more than 2,000 lives lost and hundreds of billions of American tax dollars spent…

Representative Tonko, once again, it's good to be with you on the floor, sadly reliving what you and I discussed here almost a year ago in response to Hurricane Irene and the devastation that occurred in your community. It seems to me that…

Thank you, Mr. Tonko, and I thank Mr. Pallone and Ms. Velazquez. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________

You've raised some, I think, very, very important points. These are not partisan issues. This is not Democratic or Republican. Over the years both parties have been champions of infrastructure investment, and both parties have been very…

Thank you very much, Mr. Pallone. There is no part of this Nation that is immune from a natural disaster. The disasters will be different: tornadoes, superstorms, hurricanes, droughts, floods, and fires. The west coast, we talk…

We're back, and America expects that we ought to be going back to work. And we have a heavy load ahead of us. We want to make sure that every American has the opportunity to climb up that economic and social ladder as high as they want to…

I noticed that we've now been joined by another representative from an area that was significantly damaged, Mr. Pallone from New Jersey. Perhaps you would like to share with us your thoughts and your experience. I did see you on CNN one…

I will share with you my experience in my part of California, which is the Sacramento Valley, the city of Sacramento and the surrounding area. We have significant flood potential. In fact, the northern part of Sacramento is considered to…

I thank you very much. Maybe we can engage in a little colloquy here, and we can talk about this in a little more detail. The storm surge that came into New York was anticipated, but the New York/New Jersey region were not prepared with…

I know that you're deeply involved in small business. You're the ranking member of the Small Business Committee here in the House of Representatives. I would expect that there would be a significant opportunity for small businesses in this…

Today is a day of reflection and sadness, and also determination and resolve. The tragic killing of our Ambassador in Libya and his staff should remind us all of the dangers that exist around the world. So we offer our prayers to the…