Jason Altmire

I can't think of a group that we should be helping more than our Nation's veterans. And to have a budget submitted to us at a time when all of us can agree that there is nothing more important than taking care of the people who are putting…

And, Mr. Murphy, you're leaving out one of the key facts, that they live in a world where you can charge everything to the national credit card. Everything that you do, every expense of the Federal Government, just charge it to the credit…

And I know that the gentlewoman is going to talk about this next issue, and Mr. Murphy and I talked last night at great length about the fact that the second largest line item on the budget that the President submitted to us on Monday, the…

What are the nations that we're talking about here when we're talking about foreign-held debt? What are some of the countries that we are lending this money to?

I would say, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, not to interrupt, but the President did tell us last year that he was going to reduce the deficit, and I see here that last year we had a $410 billion deficit. And he did, in fact, reduce it. Let's give…

I would only point out on that note that this is the sixth year in a row that this budget raises health care costs on 1.4 million veterans, imposing $5.2 billion in increased copayments on prescription drugs and new enrollment fees on…

What I am most proud of that this Congress did last year was we had the highest funding increase for veterans health care in the 77 year history of the VA. We had to fight tooth and nail. We had to do it over multiple opportunities…

I think this is exactly why it is important to have this discussion, to walk through these programs in the budget and talk about what exactly are we talking about when we talk about these draconian cuts that we are facing? And as I said…

I'm sure the gentleman from Connecticut would agree that it's ironic, given the fact that it was a week ago that we sat here together in this Chamber and listened to the President's State of the Union Address. And I liked some of what the…

I just want to say what an honor it is for me to have been a part of the 30-Something Working Group... it really is an honor for me to be here, the same media market.

We would not be having this discussion were it not for this Congress on the very first day we were in session adding transparency to the earmark process. In the past we couldn't have this discussion because earmarks were put in in the dark…

I can tell you, coming from western Pennsylvania where we know about dislocated workers and the need for job training and people to readapt when companies move and with the loss of manufacturing jobs, those are critically important…

As we listen to the politicized rhetoric we are hearing from the other side today, let's keep one thing in mind; there is no group that will stand ahead of our Nation's veterans when it comes time for this Congress to make Federal funding…

I have people all the time in my district that come up to me and talk about that passport issue... this Congress has met more often and taken more votes than any Congress in the history of the country, bar none.

I have two little girls, 8 and 6, Natalie and Grace, and I have in my home some of those toys. I can tell you as a parent these are not toys that are fringe. You talk about Sponge Bob Square Pants and Dora and Thomas the Tank Engine, those…

As the gentleman points out, it's a matter of setting priorities. It's not as though they were lowering the cost of government across the board. They picked and chose what they wanted to lower, and one of the issues they thought wasn't…

This was the biggest spending administration and the biggest spending Congress in the history of the country.

I don't know who is advising him up there, but the President is really out of touch. It is too little, too late for him to be a fiscal conservative. He should have vetoed the farm bill. Now, he is against the SCHIP bill, and he wants $190…

If you are the President of the United States and you want to veto this bill, at least be factually accurate and honest about why you are vetoing the bill.

That's right. We were touched by the pain, but we were also touched by the courage that they endure daily these attacks, and they stay and they don't have to do that, but they make the decision to be there. And when you see the story and…

They were allowed to expire, and that led to the record deficits of the past 6 years that I talked about earlier.

It means we as the Congress are doing the same thing the American people have to do in their own home. Checkbooks, you have to have money on one side of the ledger if you want to spend it on another. That is something this Congress has not…

I did want to make clear, just for anyone who is watching this debate, that all of these bills that the President is threatening to veto over spending are compliant with pay-as-you-go policy. That is critical.

Zero times in 12 years. Now, interestingly, you'd say, well, it must be difficult to do then. Maybe it's not often that we're able to do this. Does the gentlewoman from Florida wish to venture a guess on the last time that the budgets were…

What this bill does is give our brave men and women who respond to emergencies the tools and resources they need to protect our communities. I can think of no better way to show the American people that we are committed to this. I urge my…