I was going to mention that we are so very proud of a guy who is our role model, not only while he was in Congress as the minority leader, but since then he has come to every one of our meetings. He's been very actively involved, and I…

Thank you, Matt, for your leadership in this program and the report that you have given, the great work. Again, I also give a tip of the hat and congratulations to Jack Buechner, working in partnership with you. As you may recall from our…

Fellow association members, I'm very pleased again to welcome you to our 42nd annual meeting. And I'd like to tell you something about the association. It is bipartisan, as you know. It was chartered by Congress in 1983. The purpose of the…

The Chair again wishes to thank the former Members of the House for their presence here today. Before terminating, the Chair would like to invite those former Members whose names were not recorded as being present to give their names to…

The Chair thanks the gentleman from Idaho. The President continues to have control of the time.

The Chair thanks the gentleman from New York. At this time it is a great honor to recognize the distinguished Speaker of the House of Representatives, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner).

The Chair announces that 23 former Members of Congress have responded to their names. The Chair now recognizes the President of the Association.

It is now my pleasure and my honor to recognize the President of the Association of Former Members of Congress, the Hon. Dennis Hertel.

Thank you, Mr. Slattery. Now the Chair has the distinct privilege of recognizing the very important and distinguished minority leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you for your exemplary service as president. Congratulations also to Bill Gray, a great statesman of the year. It is nice to see Bob Michel in this great reunion. I'm Connie Morella and I approved this…

The funding increase which we propose will strengthen our efforts to combat the spread of this deadly disease.

I want to particularly thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) for initiating this amendment.