On the recordJune 26, 2012
I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I'm pleased to present the fiscal year 2013 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill to the House. Before we get to the bill, I'd like to take a moment to congratulate my colleague and ranking member of this subcommittee, John Olver, for his many years of service. As many of you may know, Mr. Olver is retiring at the end of this Congress. I have to say he'll be sorely missed by all of us. This is a better bill because of his relentless quest for knowledge about its programs. I thank you, John Olver, for your service, not just to this institution, but to the Nation. Thank you very, very much. You're a great, great partner. You'll be missed. The bill before the committee today is a balanced proposal on how to allocate $51.6 million among Federal housing and transportation programs across the Nation. Continuing our commitment to reduce government spending, our allocation is almost $4 billion below fiscal year 2012 and almost $2 billion below the President's request. The bill also reflects the budget resolution that was passed by the House. Mr. Chairman, we had to make some hard choices on funding levels for the agencies in this bill. We dedicated ourselves to this task while recognizing the serious fiscal constraints that the Nation faces. We also kept this bill largely free of authorizations, leaving that important work to the Transportation and Infrastructure and Financial Services Committees.…
