Roy Blunt: “$12.2 billion. And you are asking for the 2010 level.”

I know we have a vote coming up. I have brief remarks, and I ask unanimous consent to complete them before the vote starts. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I am glad to get a chance to talk while Senator Manchin and Senator Collins, both good friends of mine who are here, and talk about some of the reasons for the hearing today.

Through the strong, bipartisan action of this Subcommittee's leaders, Chairman Roy Blunt and Ranking Member Patty Murray, Congress is helping the agency regain lost ground after years of effectively flat budgets.

I just was able to watch the administration climb the inflation rate cliff, and I want to talk more about this problem of what happens when the administration ignores the warning signs that are going to produce the kind of results that…