Full committee

The recommendation for FY 2013 provides $3.3 billion, excluding Senate items, which are traditionally left to the Senate to determine. This is a decrease of $34.4 million, or 1% from the FY 2012 enacted level and a decrease of $190 million, or 5.3% from the requested level.

Thank you, Chairman Crenshaw and Ranking Member Honda for your hard work on the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2013. I wish to extend my congratulations to each of you and the subcommittee staffs on both sides who have put in long hours to craft this important piece of legislation.

I thank the Chairman for yielding.

I want to begin by thanking Ranking Member Lowey for her continued dedication to the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee. Mrs. Lowey and I have a unique relationship. While we do not agree on everything, we do have a strong working relationship and I respect her very much.

I want to thank all the Members of our Subcommittee – from both sides of the aisle – for their participation and thoughtful contributions to this bill.

Thank you both for your remarks, and I congratulate you on producing a solid Appropriations bill and for bringing this bill to the Full Committee. It's a sign of the important progress we have made in making the appropriations process more open, transparent and thorough.

Thank you, Ranking Member Bishop and Chairman Culberson, for your comments and for your hard work in crafting this bill.

One of our many tasks on this Committee is to ensure the health and well-being of those who proudly serve and have served in our nation's great military, and though I do not always see eye-to-eye with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, this task is one we can all support without hesitation.

Thank you, Chairman Aderholt and Ranking Member Price, for your remarks and your skillful work on this bill. As a founding member of this subcommittee, I'm fully aware of the intricacies and time needed to craft such an important piece of legislation, and thanks to you and your staffs, we have a comprehensive, well-written bill before us today.