for the first time, under the leadership of chairman hal rogers of kentucky, our subcommittee and other subcommittees are returning that unspent money back to taxpayers to reduce the deficit. chairman rogers and the leadership of the house, speaker boehner, our republican leadership, all of us are committed to bringing the nation -- doing everything in our power to get back to a balanced budget, to reduce federal spending to bring the size, scope, and cost of the federal government back under control. while we recognize our responsibility to fully fund and take care of our troops in military construction of our veterans through the veterans' affairs, through the hospitals, through the v.a., we also have an obligation to manage the money in a way that's fiscally sound. we've identified rescissions, unspent money, to taxpayers in the amount of $388 million. again, the first time that's ever been done. we found money in -- and then again, these savings don't impact in any way the level of services provided to our veterans. this in no way impacts or diminishes the quality of housing or the

for the first time, under the leadership of chairman hal rogers of kentucky, our subcommittee and other subcommittees are returning that unspent money back to taxpayers to reduce the deficit. chairman rogers and the leadership of the house, speaker boehner, our republican leadership, all of us are committed to bringing the nation -- doing everything in our power to get back to a balanced budget, to reduce federal spending to bring the size, scope, and cost of the federal government back under control. while we recognize our responsibility to fully fund and take care of our troops in military construction of our veterans through the veterans' affairs, through the hospitals, through the v.a., we also have an obligation to manage the money in a way that's fiscally sound. we've identified rescissions, unspent money, to taxpayers in the amount of $388 million. again, the first time that's ever been done. we found money in -- and then again, these savings don't impact in any way the level of services provided to our veterans. this in no way impacts or diminishes the quality of housing or the

and that's why i wrote a letter over to the house appropriations chairman hal rogers, why don't we havettom up. we can start to refine, we can start to cut and get the federal government back into its essential functions. i think that we can have this bureaucratic nancy state that grows up here in washington, d.c., and if you continue to have that, you're going to continue to have the separation between the revenues that are coming in and the spending that's going out and what we've seen in the past three years, $1.42 trillion, $1.29 trillion, and now $1.65 trillion of deaf sits. so we have to make the hard decisions up here. and i think that's one of the reasons why persons like the governor and myself, we're not career politicians. and we're bringing in a perspective that is totally different, and outside of the beltway. >> coming back to the question -- >> we've got to make a change. >> coming back to the question of jobs, we are facing a new reality. >> government does not create jobs. >> right. >> the private sector creates jobs. >> and we are looking at a private sector right now

ranking democratic member on the appropriations committee and serves with the distinguished chairman, hal rogers from kentucky. i believe i can speak for all of us, all of our members today in congratulating norm on reaching this important milestone. i think i can also say for both sides of the aisle, norm dicks is one of those members who reaches across the aisle and tries to make policy in a positive way. norm dicks, i think, is an example for all of us. he's become one of the few members of the house who've had the determination and endurance to remain engaged in the people's business for so long here in the house of representatives. norm, we congratulate you, not only on your 20,000th vote, but on the quality of service you've given to this house, to this country and to your district in washington state. congratulations. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have