I thank my friend from Georgia for engaging in good spirit in this dialogue. I would simply want to make it clear: I think it's the position of our party very clearly the House should vote on whether to avoid this thousand-dollar tax…

As we stand here today, I would like us to pause for a moment and think about an American family who is not here. The husband works in a Home Depot, the wife works as an administrative assistant in a hospital, and they make together about…

Those income tax reductions, of course, were extended to December 31 of 2012. So there's not an urgent imminence to addressing that issue the way there is with this. I would just again put the question this way. I fully understand there…

When the sun rose over the country this morning, a lot of Americans got out of bed to go to a job that doesn't pay them enough to support their family. They're working part time to pay full-time bills. A lot of other Americans who have…

I thank my friend. If we don't act by January 1, there will be a $1,500 tax increase on every middle class family in this country. The President says we should postpone that tax increase so people have more money to spend, but we're not…

When Congress doesn't want to do something, it forms a committee. We tried, and that doesn't appear to be working. Then when it doesn't want to do something, it kicks the can down the road and sets up a process where somebody else does the…

Bad data lead to bad decisions, and bad recordkeeping systems lead to bad data.

I think Secretary Panetta deserves enormous praise for giving this effort such a high priority.

We are on the verge of making very consequential decisions about the defense budget, either by default, through the sequestration process, or through a more deliberative mechanism through the Special Committee.

It is an unfortunate presumption that the present state of affairs--because we do not have accurate financial statements from the Department of Defense--gives us too much bad data.

Well, good morning, Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am glad to have you with us.

I appreciate this opportunity, and I would like to thank the members of the House staff that are staying beyond voting hours for our opportunity to speak, and I promise that I will reward your efforts with brevity. This is the end of…