On the recordFebruary 10, 2016
Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Massachusetts for his leadership. I want to say to my friend from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), whom I respect and admire, this isn't like a simple, homespun, sit around the kitchen table and work this out and be responsible in paying our bills. I wish it were. That homespun couple in Pennsylvania or my district in Virginia can't start a war that is unpaid for in Iraq, can't decide to give wealthy people a tax cut that is unpaid for, can't run the U.S. economy into the ground that costs trillions of dollars in additional debt because of policy choices made in this Congress, not by the Secretary of the Treasury. It was Republican Vice President Cheney who actually said in the midst of all of that that debts no longer matter. So we are glad to see the new-found religion here on the floor of the House with our friends on the other side of the aisle, who are now once again concerned about debt, debt they helped accumulate to an obscene degree. I rise, Mr. Speaker, in opposition to not only that bill, but to the Scientific Research in the National Interest Act bill. It comes as no surprise to my constituents in Virginia that the most anti-environmental Congress--the House majority is now attempting to tell the National Science Foundation how they ought to do and award Federal research grants based on what Congress deems worthy.…





