John Spratt

This year, Congress has passed and the President has signed into law a $787 billion recovery package to spur demand and create 3 million new jobs.

To help put the economy back on its feet, Congress enacted the Troubled Assets Relief Program in October.

We convene today to review the state of our economy, a dismal state, and its interaction with the budget.

He is very helpful to us. Has been. A wonderful individual to work with.

Thank you for your excellent testimony and for the fine work that the General Accounting Office has done for us.

Thank you for your very excellent testimony and for the fine work that the General Accounting Office, now the Government Accountability Office, has done for us.

Without the Federal Government, we will simply guarantee that there are not enough resources to get the basically required infrastructure built, renewed and maintained.

All politics is local.

The person that has been most consistent about seeing that we investigated, looked farther into the future and considered alternatives for building roads, bridges, and needed infrastructures is Earl Blumenauer

I deeply appreciate the opportunity for the Budget Committee to have now its second hearing.

This Congress has a once in a generation opportunity to really rethink our transportation network.

Adding funding for mass transit and other transportation projects won't only help jump start our economy, but it also will help improve the commutes of millions of Americans every day.

Specifically, I come here today to ask all of you to include in the budget significant funding increases in our nation's transportation infrastructure.

This budget will be a key test for us in the Congress. Will we bring the leadership that the American people are demanding?

We must do what is necessary to jump start our economy now, but long-term we must work to bring our budget into balance.

Extraordinary challenges require extraordinary efforts. I look forward to working with the Administration, Chairman Spratt, Ranking Member Ryan, and the rest of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who want to return the government to…

I hope this committee, under the leadership of Chairman Spratt and Ranking Member Ryan, will provide a budget blueprint that better suits the needs of my district.

Our law enforcement is tasked with securing our homeland and protecting our people.

I strongly support advance funding for the VA, which would essentially fund the VA one year ahead of time in order to be more efficient.

I respectfully request the committee not only provide for full funding of the BRAC recommendations but also provide legislative language to prioritize any BRAC construction related to Defense Health Programs.

We need to support those efforts.

I applaud him for taking this strong stand in support of our veterans.

Not only did the deficit come down in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 as a result of the Clinton administration's policies, but employment went up also. Every year the bottom line of the budget got better and better and better for 8 straight…

I want to thank you once again for your excellent testimony. I think it speaks volumes about defense, but also about the value of analysis that we have valuable in CBO and CRS.

But dealing with the economic crisis does not excuse or even diminish Congress' responsibility to the primary role of the Federal Government, and that is our national defense.