Ernest Istook: “I say to the gentleman, if a group does not ask for taxpayers' money, this legislation does not mean beans to them. It…”

this bill will hasten the day when Medicare will go bankrupt, and it also threatens to unravel our children's future. Medicare is already on shaky financial legs, and this will add enormous extra expenses that will make it worse. Do we…

Mr. Speaker, were we to adopt this policy of across-the-board raises, we would prevent the ability to prioritize for those people who actually put their lives at risk and put themselves in harm's way. I have worked in local government, I…

I reemphasize that this bill is the vehicle for the transportation funding. A vote against this bill is a vote against the transportation funding that is important to every Member.

although I cannot be present for the final vote, I support and have co-sponsored H.R. 4437, to improve America's border security dramatically. I am absent so that I can be at my daughter's wedding. It was scheduled long ago, when nobody…