Mark Udall: “I am far from enthusiastic about voting for this bill, but I will do so despite its shortcomings. Ironically, one of the…”

“I am far from enthusiastic about voting for this bill, but I will do so despite its shortcomings. Ironically, one of the worst shortcomings is that it is too long. It rolls into one massive measure provisions from no fewer than 11 regular appropriations bills that the House passed earlier this year, creating a 'consolidated' omnibus that was not finished until yesterday and that very few if any Members have had a chance to completely review. I regret that once again the apparent inability of the Senate to pass all but a few appropriations bills has led to this result. This is not the way Congress should do its work. That is why I have joined as a cosponsor of a resolution, H. Res. 283, that would change the House's rules to generally bar consideration of a conference report including accounts within the jurisdiction of more than one appropriations subcommittee--and, while technically the measure before us is not a conference report, I think that it would be better not to proceed in the way we are doing today. An even greater shortcoming is that this bill fails to provide the level of funding I think is needed for some important purposes.”