mr. hiller. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. heller: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my friend for yielding. i rise in opposition to this rule and the underlying bill which proposes a $300 million increase over last year for the operations of this house. that's a $-- that's a 6.3% increase at a time most americans' budgets are shrinking. 53% of this goes to allowances which we use for operating our offices and keeping in touch with constituents. i'll be the first to tell you my office could use an m.r.a. increase. my district is several hundred thousand miles. i fly thousands of mile and drive thousands of miles. keeping in touch with thousands of nevadans takes a significant amount of funds, but i am always mindful of the fact that m.r.a. funds are taxpayer dollars by another name and i have a responsibility to use them responsibly. many of my constituents and yours are making do with less. we have a responsibility to maim