On the recordJuly 23, 2013
I thank the very able committee chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee for her direction to our full committee to move forward on our appropriations bills. I am very proud that the transportation and housing bill will be the first of, hopefully, many bills to move through here, but I really thank her for her tremendous leadership, encouraging myself and my ranking member Senator Collins to move forward with our bill to the floor today. We will both be giving our opening statements. I know the ranking member on the full Appropriations Committee will be here as well. The chairman of the Finance Committee has asked for some time to speak before Senator Collins and I move forward on our discussion of this bill today. So I will yield to him, and we will speak after he does. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
