mr. lahood, i've got some questions to ask you. i retired after 30 years, most on salary, -- reduction in salary, flint, michigan. i lost most of my benefits but obama gave the union -- from what i hear, and i want you to cleared up for me. he gave the union 18% of the company. and the government took the rest. my friends who retired from there, they lost hartley everything and i lost almost everything. i lost most of my life insurance, i lost most of my prescription glasses, my dental, medical. at me and my wife, they gave us $300 to buy -- for me and my wife, they gave us $300 to buy prescription insurance with. the first year it worked out ok. i could buy all two of them for $300. now, my supplement costs $350 a month and i have to pay for my prescription insurance. host: what is your overall message for the secretary? caller: my overall message is why did they cheat the salaried retirees -- and obama is such a union lover that he gave the union 18% of the company so they would not have to do that with their benefits but they su

mr. lahood, i've got some questions to ask you. i retired after 30 years, most on salary, -- reduction in salary, flint, michigan. i lost most of my benefits but obama gave the union -- from what i hear, and i want you to cleared up for me. he gave the union 18% of the company. and the government took the rest. my friends who retired from there, they lost hartley everything and i lost almost everything. i lost most of my life insurance, i lost most of my prescription glasses, my dental, medical. at me and my wife, they gave us $300 to buy -- for me and my wife, they gave us $300 to buy prescription insurance with. the first year it worked out ok. i could buy all two of them for $300. now, my supplement costs $350 a month and i have to pay for my prescription insurance. host: what is your overall message for the secretary? caller: my overall message is why did they cheat the salaried retirees -- and obama is such a union lover that he gave the union 18% of the company so they would not have to do that with their benefits but they su

we were so pleased in that conversation with secretary donna van and secretary lahood into chu and secretary duncan and mr. holder that we said one of the things that was the challenge for all of us in the federal government, and ladies and gentlemen, one of the things the administration has done, and thank you, secretary donovan, is that the collapse of the silo between transportation and energy and hud. thank you for that because it facilitates our work to help you help our citizens. and so, ladies and gentlemen, we are here today because cdbg is a very important program for all of us. it is the only program that sends dollars treacly to cities. it is the program that we have used to help retain jobs, create jobs, and in cities what cdbg has done is to help us create about 150,000 jobs. just think about the programs in your cities and how it helps your citizens, our citizens. the other thing that cdbg has done is it has produced about $13 billion in gdp. think about that. you are looking at revenue that comes into the state treasury and the federal government treasury because of this program that we are

and we were so pleased in that conversation with secretary donovan and secretary lahood and chu and secretary duncan, and mr. holder, for one of the things that was a challenge for all of us, the silos and the federal government. ladies and gentlemen, one of the things that the administration has done, and thank you, secretary donovan, is that lots of silos between transportation and energy and hides, we thank you for that, because it facilitates our work to help you help our citizens. ladies and gentlemen, we are pg is anay because cd bo important program for all of us. it is the only one that sends dollars directly to cities. it is the program that we had used to help retain jobs, create jobs, and in cities, what it has done is to help us create about 150,000 jobs. just think about the programs in your cities and how it helps your citizens, our citizens. the other thing that they have done is that it has produced about $13 billion in gdp. think about that. you're looking at revenues. they come into the state treasuries and the federal government treasuries because of this program that we are privileged to

mr. speaker, this week i co-signed a letter to transportation secretary lahood expressing concern about the waste of taxpayer dollars at the federal highway administration's international scan program. this program has likely wasted millions of dollars over the past 10 years, sending government officials abroad, most recently to study billboards in five different countries, over 17 days at a cost of $300,000 to the taxpayers. rightly secretary lahood responded to our letter by immediately suspending the program. but the question remains, why did it exist in the first place? and how many others like it exist throughout the federal bureaucracy? we must continue to scrutinize the budgets at all federal agencies so we can put an end to this type of wasteful spending once and for all. hopefully suspension of this billboard program is just a sign of things to come. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objecti