ms. halvorson: i have an amendment at the desk? the clerk: amendment number 10 offered by ms. hall vor son of illinois. the chair: the gentlewoman from illinois, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois. ms. halvorson: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i like to chairman praise chairman obey and chairman edwards for their commitment. their committee made a commitment and renewed the promise to care for those who have served in our armed services. they have kept that promise and dramatically increased funding for our veterans by 70% since 2007. as the only member of congress from illinois that sits on the veterans committee, i really can speak to the critical need that these funds have addressed for illinois veterans. my amendment is simple. it adds $10 million to the v.a. major construction projects and subtracts $10 million from the general operating expenses. much of the v.a. medical structure is outdated and in many cases obsolete. according to the budget which is written by some of the largest veteran

ms. woolsey of california. mr. jones of north carolina. mrs. halvorson of illinois. ms. ros-lehtinen of florida. mrs. maloney of new york. mr. burton of indiana. ms. kaptur of ohio. mr. flake of arizona. mr. defazio of oregon. mrs. miller of michigan. mr. gingrey of georgia. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, the gentleman from texas, mr. brady is recognized for 60 inns -- minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. brady: thank you, mr. speaker. america's economy is struggling , and in spite of the spending and promises out of washington a lot of average americans, more than 15 million, are wondering where are the jobs? because they don't have one. this democrat congress and this white house promised a lot to these workers and to the american taxpayer, if they would just give them a blank check if they could just write money like there was no tomorrow, that they, washington, would know best how to get this economy back on track. unfortunately, the reality of the past 16 months since the stimulus bill passed has unfortunately been much less than what was promised. the ob