Barbara Mikulski: “We have really done a good job, and we have done a good job working on a bipartisan basis, working with President Bush…”

“We have really done a good job, and we have done a good job working on a bipartisan basis, working with President Bush and his Cabinet. There are 13 appropriations subcommittees. The big three are Defense, Labor-HHS, and VA-HUD. VA-HUD spends $84 billion of the taxpayers' money. Of that, $51 billion goes to veterans, and it is worth every nickel of it. Housing and Urban Development receives $31 billion. A substantial amount of that goes to community development block grant money, which is decided by the local community: housing for the elderly, the special needs population, and housing for the poor. We have tried to use the best ideas and the best practices to make sure subsidies are not a way of life but a way to a better life. That is what we have concentrated on again in this bill. We have the Environmental Protection Agency. We have worked to clean up the environment. We have the National Space Agency and the National Science Foundation, very important for public investments in new ideas, in new knowledge, which always leads to America being on the competitive edge and the cutting edge.”