Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished chair of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw).

I rise today to commend this bill to our colleagues and urge that it be passed. It includes $27.5 billion in Federal spending. That's a reduction of $2.1 billion below last year, $3.8 billion below the President's request. Some have…

I thank the chairman for yielding the time. I rise today to commend H.R. 2551, the fiscal year 2012 appropriations act for the legislative branch. Mr. Chairman, this is the sixth appropriations bill that we will have passed through the…

You've gone back to the 2006 levels, which is a huge cut in spending. So you've done your share of helping us get the Nation's fiscal house back in order. And I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Dicks, who at the very outset of this year…

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank Chairman Frelinghuysen and Mr. Visclosky for the hard, super effort. This has not been an easy bill, to say the least. And you've stayed with it, you have written a good bill, and you have, I…

Mr. Chairman, this is a great bill. It's a model of fiscal restraint. I can attest to the fact that the committee has taken a long, hard look at each and every line in this bill to make sure that we are getting the greatest value from each…

I thank Chairman Young for yielding me this time. And thank you and your other partner, this dynamic duo that we have here between Chairman Young and Chairman Dicks. Thank you for your good work. The nearly $649 billion in total funding…

The gentleman is not correct. This provision in the manager's amendment precludes the expenditure of this escrow account for any purpose other than Patent Office. It's in the manager's amendment, and the gentleman will have a chance to…

I welcome my colleague's comments. However, I think the gentleman has a misunderstanding about the content of that provision. The provision in the manager's bill states that no moneys can be diverted from the fee collections. All of the…

The gentleman may not be aware, but we have long had a practice on the Appropriations Committee of reprogramming funds within an agency's budget. All of the agencies have problems during the year where they need to change moneys from one…

I thank the chairman for yielding the time and congratulate him and Mr. Farr on producing, I think, a good bill. The bill answers the call from Americans to reduce government spending while still providing for critical programs that keep…