mr. speaker , i would like to thank chairman regula for his leadership on this bill . 
this bill , of all bills , has a very , very strong history of bipartisanship . 
one of the predecessor chairmen of this bill was a fellow named bill natcher who served with great distinction in this house for 40 years . 
never missed a vote . 
and when he would get up and ask for bipartisan support for this bill , he would get it . 
as a member of the minority , for year after year i voted for this bill because it is the people 's bill , because the needs of the american public are met by this bill . 
and the people who pay the taxes benefit in large part from the services and support programs provided in this bill . 
there are over 500 programs in this bill . 
it is a very complex bill , the american public is very concerned about the level of acrimony and partisanship here in washington today . 
here is a day , here is a bill where we can set that aside and work together to provide a bipartisan vote to support this bill . 
is it a perfect bill ? 
no . 
but it is a good bill . 
and there is an old saying : do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good . 
and this is a very good bill . 
we do not have unlimited resources in this country . 
we have to make priorities . 
and chairman regula has done that . 
under his leadership , and since our party became the majority party , we have doubled -- doubled the amount of federal aid to public education . 
we have doubled . 
that is an astounding number . 
and there is an even better one . 
we have tripled the funding for the national institutes of health , the institute that provides the research , that supports the research done at american colleges and research institutions around the country , that gives us , this country , the level of quality of health care that it has , the best in the world . 
so we not only have set these priorities in a very tough budget year , but he has increased funding . 
by making further changes in the bill , chairman regula has provided an additional $ 100 million for funding for special education to states . 
now , again , both parties have been very supportive over the years of the individuals in education act . 
we , our party , i think , to our credit , have dramatically increased the level of funding in idea . 
the democrats did their part . 
we are doing our part . 
we have , again , increased liheap , which is very important in my part of the country , in the northeast . 
and community health centers , for the people who do not have health insurance in this country , here is an opportunity to help them , to provide health care , good solid health care that we all need . 
so i just hope that we can set partisanship and some of that acrimony that we all have to deal with on a daily basis down here ; let us set it aside on this really good , solid effort , and let us all support this bill . 
and i thank chairman regula for his leadership , and i am proud to be a member of this subcommittee . 
