While this subcommittee may not appropriate the most money, the agencies and offices in our jurisdiction are among the most essential to the operation of our, small 'D,' democracy and our, small 'D,' democratic system.

It takes 10,000 employees to make the world of the House of Representatives run smoothly every day.

I think we will reverse or further slow that trend if we are able to do so.

We often call the House of Representatives the people's House, which says something important about this Chamber even if the phrase itself has become a cliche.

I think this would have quite an impact.

This is our first hearing of the fiscal 2018 appropriations process, and I am grateful for the privilege to be here with you, work in a bipartisan way to make some good things happen.

None of us could do our jobs without you here, and we know when we get our visitors and we take selfies with the Capitol behind them, we know that is your handiwork there.

We have got a lot of work ahead of us in the tough budget year, but we look forward to hearing from you and working with you.

how we can use, potentially use some bonding capacity to be able to get this stuff done when labor is cheaper, products cheaper.

This is our home. This is where we work. My 3-year-old says, 'Daddy, are you going to Capitol?' That is where daddy works, and it is a pretty cool thing.

these projects, $1.5 billion today, in 10 years are going to be a hell of a lot more.