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 .  