mr. valholen will also make an opening statement. any other members may enter statements into the record. the remaining time left and then the minority will use the remaining time left in its hour. mr. valholen's time and my time will come out of our hour. after the presentations we will have a staff walk through which means members can ask questions they have. after the staff walk thru, we will proceed to the amendments in a structure that i have worked out with the ranking member the structure that we have had standing tradition of. i will describe that when we get to that point. we will do tier 1, 12, 3. at this point before making opening statements, i would like to yield to mr. van hollen for any comments or questions he may have. >> thank you, mr. president. this committee has had i think a tradition of very tough argument on the issues. but focused on the issues. it's a way to get at the differs that is we may have on our overall approach but doing it in a civil and constructive manner. i want to thank the chairman also for wo