Hal Rogers

I have got coal mines closing and people being laid off. And they say, why can't you do anything about the EPA and the Corps of Engineers?

We have truly reached not just a crossroads but I think a crisis.

Do you call these earmarks?

It is just a street-level uprising. How do you explain that?

And that cutting spending and reducing the deficit will give confidence to the business community to hire people and put people to work.

This misguided policy can only lead to higher energy prices, continued reliance on foreign oil, and economic hardship that hampers job creation. At a time when gasoline is currently approaching $4 a gallon around the country and when our…

Is the gentleman aware that Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, now says that H.R. 1 would have no harmful effect on the economy?

I wanted to thank the gentleman from West Virginia for offering this amendment. This retroactive veto of the Spruce mine is the poster child for EPA's regulatory overreach, but there are thousands more permits like this throughout…

We bent over backwards to accommodate the gentleman, but this has gone beyond what we agreed to.

Almost immediately after taking office, Mr. Chairman, the administration put a bull's-eye on Appalachian coal from every angle, including from the OSM. As a representative of Appalachian Kentucky, like Ohio where the gentleman is from…

I want to congratulate the gentleman. This amendment is well-deserved, and it's exactly the right thing to do. I appreciate the gentleman taking up the fight to save the jobs in Appalachia--in Virginia and Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio…

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. It really is a substitute amendment, and it's an across-the-board cut. This body has spent many late nights all this week debating a yearlong CR which makes targeted spending…

The EPA's action at Spruce will have severe implications for the agriculture, construction, and transportation sectors because it sets a dangerous precedent that EPA can revoke any permit at any time for any reason, or for no reason. Mr…

Here the gentleman goes again. He is attempting to cut without specifying where the cuts come from. There's no tough choices identified in the amendment. All it says is just to reduce the appropriations by $280 million, exempting DOD and…

We in this bill made it a point of being very careful about the cuts to the DOD and Homeland Security. We think it's the reasonable approach that's in the base bill. We do not need this type of a heavy, deep cut in the defense of the…

I'm in strong opposition to across-the-board cuts. We were elected to make choices. And on this bill we've made our choices, and we think we've done a fairly decent job of spreading the pain across the board. But to have an…

SAFER was originally authorized for the purpose of increasing the number of new firefighters in local communities, a hand up, not a handout. SAFER was not intended to rehire or retain firefighters, and certainly was not intended to serve…

Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate Chairman Mica and Chairman Aderholt, who are working together to rein in this organization, which has almost gone beyond belief, so that we can get some discipline and some savings in this organization…

We have had I think a very elevated week of debate about the entire government. This is one of those very rare occasions when the Congress, for a single span of time, debates practically every element in the Federal budget. That is a very…

Reclaiming my time, when we first stood up TSA, I chaired that subcommittee. We put a limit on the number of employees that TSA could have. They first wanted, I think it was, 30,000 people. We said no. Then they went up to 35,000; then…

The continuing resolution on the floor today represents the largest reduction in non-security discretionary spending in the history of the Nation. It funds the Federal Government for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, but, most…

This is the first step in the effort to reduce discretionary spending to fiscal 2008 levels or below and show the American people that we are serious about reducing the out-of-control government spending that is hampering our economic…

Mr. Speaker, this is a historic time for this Congress, this House and my committee. I can say without a moment's hesitation that this day represents a crucial turning point for our Nation as this new Congress begins a path to fiscal…

Thank you, Mr. Lewis, for yielding time. It's been a real pleasure, and I mean that very sincerely, working under the leadership of Jerry Lewis on our side of the aisle, both as chairman and as ranking member of this committee for these…

Mr. Speaker, how can we explain this year's so-called budget process to the American people? Should I begin with the historic failure to enact a budget resolution? How about the despicable way special interest bailout funds were dumped on…