Mark Udall: “I would like to be able to vote for this conference report, because it does include some things that I support and that…”

“I would like to be able to vote for this conference report, because it does include some things that I support and that are very important for Colorado and the country. If those items, or even the parts of this omnibus bill that included them, were being considered separately, I well could vote for them. But that is not the situation today. Instead, today Members of the House are presented with a more difficult choice. We must vote yes or no on this entire conference report, which rolls into one enormous package no fewer than 11 of the regular 13 appropriations bills that together cover all of the government except the Department of Defense. This is not the way the House should do its work. It is an embarrassment for all of us. But the responsibility lies solely upon the Republican leadership. They are the ones who refused to allow the House to consider only a few of the regular appropriations bills last year, either before the November elections or in the subsequent lame duck session. They are the ones who have brought this embarrassment, this shame, even, upon the House. Nonetheless, each of us has had to try to review the results, weighing its good and bad features, without adequate information and in undue haste--haste now, after months and months of delay--and decide, on balance whether to support it. So I have done my best to review and understand what is before the House. And, on balance, with some regret, I must vote against it.”