Katie Porter: “Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying that I want to commend the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), the chairman of our…”

“Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying that I want to commend the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), the chairman of our committee, for the absolutely marvelous job that he has done in shepherding all 13 appropriations bills through this process. We could not have a better chairman, a man who keeps his cool under fire, who works with all of the Members to try to accommodate greatly different interests often. We thank him for the marvelous job he does in leading all of us. Let me thank the committee staff Tony McCann, Bob Knisely, Carol Murphy, Susan Firth, Francine Salvador, Nicole Wheeler; and on the minority side, Mark Mioduski and Cheryl Smith. They do a terrific job for all of us. My personal staff: my AA, Rob Bradner; my LA, Spencer Perlman, who has worked on the bill, and Christina Hamilton on the staff of the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) have all done absolutely wonderful work. And Bettylou Taylor for the Senate majority staff, and Ellen Murry for the Senate minority staff and their coworkers have done an absolutely marvelous job. Let me also thank the members of my subcommittee. They do yeoman's work in hearing months and months of hearings before the subcommittee and it is a very, very tough job for them. Mr. Speaker, let me close by saying that the other side said to us earlier that they believe we are $17 billion off. This Federal budget is $1,800 billion.”