Floor Speech
"Throughout the health care reform debate I have continually stated that our healthcare system must be reformed. It costs too much, doesn't cover enough people, and incentivizes inefficiencies. Reform must expand access, reduce the overall amount of money we spend on health care, and promote quality of care over quantity. In order to succeed, real reform must be built on these three pillars, without which we will not be able to provide sustainable universal access.
"Today, the House passed what should be the final war supplemental spending bill. Among other things, the supplemental provides funds for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan as well as economic and military support for Pakistan. Going forward, spending for military operations will be requested through the President's annual budget, not emergency supplemental spending requests.
Mr. SMITH of Washington. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis.
Mr. Speaker, the GAO is scheduled this week to decide whether or not to overturn the Air Force decision on awarding the tanker contract to Airbus. We have already heard this morning that the Air Force has discovered that they made numerous mistakes in how they calculated the cost.
Madam Speaker, I would like to bring my colleagues' attention to significant political developments in Southeast Asia. Malaysia, which recently held major elections, is embarking on a new set of democratic reforms to deal with some of the serious problems that the country faces. I am pleased to see that Malaysia is moving toward reforms that would support the rule of law and a more open society.
My amendment to the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 encourages collaboration between Amtrak and local and regional commuter rail agencies on train schedules and routing in shared rail corridors.
Across the nation there are multiple commuter rail transit agencies that run on the same rails as Amtrak. Many of these public transportation services have made substantial investments in the tracks and signal capacity of a rail corridor to enhance commuter rail service.