On the recordDecember 8, 2016
I thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this is a very bittersweet moment for me. It is the last time I will speak on this floor after 23 years of serving in the House of Representatives. It is sweet because it is about the appropriations process and the wonderful camaraderie on that committee, which, I think, is the most important committee and the most exciting committee in Congress because you deal with all aspects of how government operates. You really do the policy wonk, the technical stuff, the drilling down--all of those words we use in order to understand how government works and how much it is going to cost. You have just heard this incredible bipartisanship of people--those dedicated to the job they were elected to do on the committees they serve on--do the appropriations process. All of that has developed this incredible friendship and, I think, professional respect we have for one another regardless of our philosophies. The bitterness of it is that you have just heard everyone so eloquently speak about the failure of the process in that we are doing a CR that nobody wants to do. Why is that? Frankly--and they are not saying it--I think this is the first test of how the Congress is going to respond to the new President-elect Trump's agenda. It was our former Member--now Vice President-elect-- Mike Pence who said: We want a CR. He served in this House, and he knows the process. We were all in agreement. We were going to do a comprehensive bill.…
