Political Quotes

“I thank my good friend, the chairman, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I have a formal statement I will include in the Record, but I want to begin by praising Chairman Frelinghuysen; Ranking Member Nita Lowey; the staff; my negotiating counterpart and wonderful ranking member, Ms. DeLauro. It has been a collaborative effort, and it is one that you can be extraordinarily proud of in terms of having gotten all our bills done on time and presented and across this floor, having worked on a pretty short time frame when the Senate finally came to the ability to negotiate. We were waiting about 180 days for that. They finally got there. And in 4 weeks, you got the work done. It is an exceptional product. From a Republican standpoint, the big win is defense. We all want to defend the country, but that was probably the top Republican priority in the bill, and we more than met our obligation in that respect. I want to focus, in the little time I have left, on some things I am particularly proud of in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies portion of this legislation: $3 billion increase in the National Institutes of Health. That is the largest increase in 20 years. $3 billion for opioids, a common problem in all our districts, something that we all care about. $3 billion, roughly, in round numbers, for early childhood education and early childhood care. Again, dollars well spent.…”