Tom Cole

Count me as very skeptical that we could hit the administration's proposed number because I just think it is going to take longer to set this up and organize it than perhaps you envision.

I respect the President to submit what budget, but at the end of the day, if he wants bipartisan support that is going to be an issue we are going to have to confront.

I had very little problem, honestly, with the administration proposal or the legislative compromise on the COVID package that was stripped out.

That is just not true.

But pre-COVID, the way it was done was always by consent; in other words, we all agreed pretty much: We know these are going to pass so we are going to group them all together.

I want to congratulate my friend, Mr. Roy, on his son, because that is a pretty well-behaved young man to sit there that much time and listen to adults drone away.

Continuing to utilize proxy voting and remote committee procedures has negative consequences for legislating.

You can't hate someone whose story you know.

The failure to congregate in person has had serious consequences for the culture of this institution.

I noted that this was the most consequential change to the rules since the establishment of the modern committee system in the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946.

I have never seen such a stunning display of green ties.

Unfortunately, in my view, the results have not been as positive as all of us I think would have wanted.

I believe that both the proxy voting and remote committee procedures have long since outlived their usefulness.

I have more remarks. Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

For further explanation of our energy independence bill, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice), my very good friend and fellow Oklahoman.

Just to remind my friend, it was the last administration that actually began lethal aid to Ukraine. The Obama administration did not. The record there is pretty clear as to who has helped the Ukrainians. Madam Speaker, to further discuss…

To further discuss the need for America to be energy independent, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber), a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and my good friend.

We need some focus here, not on some of these other agendas that, frankly, are stalling out right now.

The President has been a pretty busy guy. He got some things done, the COVID relief bill, the infrastructure bill.

The outline of the deal here is pretty obvious. The defense number has got to go up. The domestic number has got to come down to some degree.

We have at least one, I think perhaps two, if the gentleman can make it back in time.

Simply to make a couple of quick points to some of my friends' concerns. First of all, nobody has had 2 weeks to act. This incident occurred less than 2 weeks ago, and we were in recess last week. So let's focus on the here and now. I may…

I just want to quickly inquire of my friend. I am prepared to close, if my friend is. Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I am.

I am sure my friend from Massachusetts is not aware of this, but Mrs. Miller-Meeks has actually run multiple events for vaccines. She has vaccinated people herself. She has spent 24 years in public health in service to the country. So I…

It should be easy to agree that securing our southern border is vital for national security. Our next speaker will talk more about H.R. 4828 and the need for vital security improvements as part of an overall strategy to secure and protect…