Steve Womack: “We need to fix it. I spent last year with the distinguished chair of the Appropriations Committee, Mrs. Lowey, as…”

“We need to fix it. I spent last year with the distinguished chair of the Appropriations Committee, Mrs. Lowey, as co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform. We got really close on some good ideas that would fundamentally change the way we do our Article I responsibility, but we left all that at the altar. What more evidence do we need to show that this process is flawed, that it is broken and needs to be fixed? I am frustrated. The American people are frustrated. Nobody paying attention to this process conducts their business or their personal finances the way this body does, the legislative body of the most incredible country ever known to humankind. Yet the question today is: Will we just kick the can down the road to right before Christmas in hopes that this Congress is going to have some epiphany that we have to do the work that we have been trying to do for the last 7 weeks? We are 7 weeks into the fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, I had breakfast this morning with the Secretary of the Army, and here is what he said: Eventually, we will give you the money, our men and women in uniform. The problem is that we can't give you the time back. That time is running through the clock, so I am frustrated. I am prepared to vote ``no,'' and I am prepared to continue to work as long as it takes to make sure that we do our work on time and not kick the can down the road.”