Political Quotes

“I want to begin by acknowledging and thanking the Speaker and his staff--I think John Boehner has done an incredible job--and also Mr. Rogers and the appropriations staff on both sides of the aisle for their good work. This has never really been done before. I rise in very strong support of the bill that provides the appropriations for the Defense Department and other agencies. The bill before the House is the long-overdue conclusion to the fiscal year 2011 appropriations process which the previous Congress had failed to really address. The new Congress has crafted a package of thoughtful and necessary reductions to discretionary spending which will put the country back on a path of fiscal responsibility. The bill includes a total of $53.4 billion under the jurisdiction of the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee, a reduction of $11 billion, or 17 percent, from fiscal year 2010 and a reduction of $7 billion, or 12 percent, from the President's request. At the same time, the bill preserves strong funding levels for critical national priorities, such as FBI national security programs and the basic scientific research supported by the National Science Foundation, NIST and others. Also, the bill includes the funding and language needed to allow NASA to move forward with the new space exploration programs that were outlined in the authorization bill. This takes care of NASA, and Members on both sides asked for it with regard to that.…”