Betty McCollum

There must be a way to use the money that is out there from the leasing to hire the necessary employees.

I do not want to get into the minute details of what is going on with Everglade restoration, but I think what the Miccosukee have asked us here is, as money is spent on this, we should consider how is the water healing itself.

We are seeing cocaine, heroin and meth on the rise.

If we are to be creative, if we are to be successful as human beings and if we are to be successful as a country, we have to take the time to sit, reflect, read and have an open mind.

It is a dirty little family secret, folks, and it needs to come out in the public if we are going to work on this.

I was glad to see the President did not zero out in his budget but was disappointed at the funding level.

We really need to figure this out in a way that is friendly to families for a whole host of reasons.

all politics is local, but I really appreciate you being here. This is how we express ourselves in a democracy, so the arts are important to our democracy.

Anything we can do so that our kids are engaged year round in school, it reinforces what they are learning.

We need to figure out a way in this committee to get the education folks, our colleagues, to pay a little more attention about what is going on with Head Start.

You are worth a pole barn that cannot be repaired anymore.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You folks were not able to participate in the last oil boom that went through very much, were you?

I do not know how you could have sovereignty second class, but I will learn some more.

Our drive to achieve energy security by decreasing our dependence on foreign oil is an issue Americans all agree on.

I think making a long-term investment in clean domestic energy makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons.

There needs to be a formula with accountability and transparency that makes sure that that child, and that child's family, is getting what they need.

As pointed out, we talk about quality of life as well as what we owe our service men and women during the transition back into civilian life.

the service men and women will have what they need to perform their duties and their missions.

Well, we should be doing it for our D.C. schools too, because----

It was our honor and our military's honor to assist our friends in Japan in delivering goods and working in partnership during the very dark days that Japan faced after the earthquake and tsunami.

I think that gives us some teeth with it.

No matter what happens, the Congress is always going to make sure that our men and women in uniform don't have any worries, they get all the help that they need.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

the U.S. Pacific Command budget request makes it clear that U.S. military readiness and Japan will play a vital role in our long-term military strategy.

I think we need to talk about this, because you and I both know in our communities how integral they are to the fabric of our communities.