fifth district. mr. thompson: i thank the gentleman and my friend for yielding. mr. speaker, members, i came to the floor this afternoon to join my blue dog colleagues in calling for all of us in congress to come together and do the work that we've been asked to do. the work that we've been sent to washington, sent to congress to do on behalf of the people that we represent. i came to congress to get things done, to get things done for the people i represent and to get things done for the great country we're all so privileged to live and to participate in. as mr. costa mentioned, he and i served together in the state legislature in california and i'm very proud of the work we kid there. we were able to get a lot of things done. the time that i was there, the majority of the time, i chaired the senate budget committee. that was one of the reasons why i was so proud to be a blue dog. the common thread that holds all blue dogs together is the issue