the eaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr.ks: i yield myself two minutes. mr. speaker, the conference report before us contains nine separate bills, defense, energy and water, financial services, homeland security, interior, labor, h.h.s., and education, legislative branch, military construction and v.a. and state foreign operation. it is a bipartisan agreement reached after many hours of deliberation and debate. it reflects the fact that neither party can pass this bill on its own in either the house or the senate. the conference report is a remarkable product of the hard work of all members of the appropriations committee and as the chairman mentioned, especially the ranking members d the cardinals, the chairman of the subcommittees, an i'llest -- and i especially want to congratulate the staff. i was a stafperson myself and as the chairman has said, i have never seen people work harder than the staff on the house appropriations committee and i want to commend bill and david for their work all during this year, their coopera