Rodney Frelinghuysen: “I suspect, Madam Chair, that the ranking member, Mr. Visclosky, and I are going to use this opportunity to thank a whole…”

“I suspect, Madam Chair, that the ranking member, Mr. Visclosky, and I are going to use this opportunity to thank a whole host of people who have allowed us to bring this bill to the floor and, we hope, to a very successful conclusion. {time} 1310 First of all, to Chairman Rogers from Kentucky and his working partner, Congressman Norm Dicks, on behalf of the committee, we want to thank you for giving us full support, bipartisan support, and giving us the flexibility to have a number of hearings to do a comprehensive approach through that hearing process and your insistence, both of you, on what we call regular order, the ability of the Appropriations Committee to work in a bipartisan way. I shouldn't comment on the House in general, but in terms of our committee, there's been a good bipartisan working relationship. So you've laid the foundation for Mr. Visclosky and me to sort of proceed in regular order, and we're grateful. I'd also like to thank the Members for their cooperation in terms of amendments. I think we started maybe last year with 103 amendments. A lot of amendments were drawn into a unanimous consent situation, so we've been able to reduce the amendments, and Members have come to the floor, spoken on an expeditious basis and, I think, performed admirably, and I think they have made our bill better and more comprehensive.…”