Steny Hoyer: “I mentioned the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Ney), and he has done an extraordinary job and, I think, leads our…”

“I mentioned the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Ney), and he has done an extraordinary job and, I think, leads our committee the way every American would want him to lead the committee, and that is in an open and constructive way, and I thank him for that. I also wanted to focus on the sponsor of this particular motion to instruct. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) is an extraordinary Member of this House. He is probably as well grounded in the law as any Member of this House. He is also a colleague of mine in participating in the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a vice president of that international organization of 55 countries, respected internationally for his fairness and for his focus. I want to thank him for his leadership, not only in the State of Florida, but I want to thank him for his leadership in this Congress. He was the one who raised most pointedly the issue of funding for 2002. It was his leadership that allowed some of us to work with him and, I might say, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), the Speaker of the House, and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), to get the funding. So much of the year is gone, but the $450 million which is in the supplemental is now subject to authorization, and that is the key. We have to pass this legislation so that we can get that money to the States.”