Tom Latham: “Mr. Chairman, I am going to be very brief as Mr. Olver has told us an awful lot about H.R. 5850, the fiscal year 2011…”

“Mr. Chairman, I am going to be very brief as Mr. Olver has told us an awful lot about H.R. 5850, the fiscal year 2011 Transportation and Housing, or THUD, bill. I just want to say, on a personal level, thank you to Chairman Olver for his ability to work together on this bill. He has been a true gentleman and very, very cooperative. He has reached out and has really made this a pleasure to go through the entire hearing process this year. I also want to thank the staff for all of their hard work. Mr. Olver has already named the staff members, but I also want to make sure that they know how much we appreciate all of their hard work. I really believe, this year, that we did have an opportunity to adhere to a normal appropriations process. The result of those hearings is the bill before us, totaling $67.4 billion, which is a mere $500 million below the fiscal year 2010 levels.”