[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3725-3726]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




COMMENDING MEMBERS OF COMMITTEE AND STAFF FOR WORK ON HOUSE CONCURRENT 
 RESOLUTION 353, CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2003

  (Mr. NUSSLE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NUSSLE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to first of all thank our 
competitors today. As the old saying goes, I think it was a saying by a 
former Speaker, the Democrats are just our opposition; it is the Senate 
that is the real enemy around here. I realize that is probably not 
appropriate.
  The point I am trying to make is that the gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Spratt) and the Democrats on the Committee on the Budget 
did an admirable job of presenting their points of view, both in 
committee and here on the floor today. I want to thank them for that, 
and I would also like to thank our staffs.
  We get to come on the floor and do all of this debating, but the 
preparation to put this budget together, like it or not, is done by a 
lot of work during a lot of hours, many of them late nights, by our 
staff. Rich Meade and Tom Kahn and the whole gang at the Committee on 
the Budget do an excellent, professional job.
  Again, as I say, like the budget or not, it is professional work and 
they need to be commended for that.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. NUSSLE. I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, throughout this year, the gentleman from 
Iowa (Chairman Nussle) and I have tried to maintain an amicability and 
civility in the committee, which has worked between us because there is 
a natural relationship of friendship between us to start with.
  I commend him for the manner in which he has handled this on the 
floor. We have deep disagreements, but nevertheless, we have been able 
to disagree yet not be disagreeable. It is partly because of the manner 
with which the gentleman has tackled this whole thing, and I commend 
him for that.
  Let me also say to the House staff, they have worked, on both sides, 
long

[[Page 3726]]

hours, hard hours. If Members want to see some evidence of the output, 
look at the walls of this place, at all of the posters they have 
presented, only a fraction of which ever made it in the well of the 
House; but nevertheless, they will be seen between now and the next 
several weeks.
  They won, but we will revisit this, I am sure, many times in the 
future. In any event, I thank the gentleman for the manner in which he 
has worked.
  Mr. NUSSLE. Probably much to the chagrin of many Members who had to 
listen to this part of the debate.

                          ____________________