Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I'd like to congratulate Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Dicks for an exceptionally hard job which yielded, frankly, a very good product. This bill spends less--$70 billion less--than the President requested and $6 billion less than we spent last year. It's the second year in a row we've actually cut discretionary spending. The bill cuts by 5 percent the funding for EPA regulatory programs which have passed some wildly unpopular and costly rules. The bill eliminates 23 programs totaling more than $240 million. And while this bill cuts wasteful spending, it actually focuses additional funds on things that count--defending our country, helping some of our most vulnerable and challenged citizens, and providing funds to educate some of our most disadvantaged young people. The bill provides a 1.6 percent pay increase for the military, as requested by the President, and funds the Defense Health and Military Family programs at $1.1 billion above FY2011 and $283 million above the President's request. Along with supporting our Armed Forces, this bill exceeds FY2011 levels for our veterans. With $58 billion in discretionary spending, this bill fully funds $2.1 billion above last year's level for those who have served our country. In addition, the Indian Health Service is funded at $4.3 billion, an increase of nearly 6 percent. I particularly want to thank Chairman Simpson and Ranking Member Moran for their hard efforts.…”