Hal Rogers: “Thank you, Chairman Aderholt, for yielding the time. Mr. Chairman, this is the 10th anniversary bill for this…”

“Thank you, Chairman Aderholt, for yielding the time. Mr. Chairman, this is the 10th anniversary bill for this subcommittee. We began work in 2003, and the first three speakers that are on the platform today are the three chairmen of that subcommittee in its 10 years of history. I have the honor of being the first chairman and then was followed by David Price as chairman, and now Robert Aderholt. So we have--if there is any accumulated wisdom, we posses a portion of it. So we want to thank Chairman Aderholt and Ranking Member Price for their hard work on this subcommittee. This is truly a bipartisan, nonpartisan subcommittee because the Nation's security cannot bow to any partisan spirits. {time} 1430 I think after these 10 years we can all agree that the country is indeed safer than it was then. The country has thwarted several attempts at terrorist attacks in our skies. We've eliminated the world's most heinous terrorist, Osama bin Laden, and more recently the number two al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But we face constant reminders that the war on terror is anything near over. Our freedom is not free, and we can't skimp on our national security if we want to stay vigilant and, most importantly, safe. Discretionary funding in this bill totals just over $39 billion, which, indeed, is a cut of $483 million below last year and $393 million below what the President requested.…”