Chris Coons: “I am proud to join my colleague, Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, in bringing our committee bill--the Financial Services…”

“I am proud to join my colleague, Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, in bringing our committee bill--the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill--to the floor. I thank the full committee chair and the vice chairman, Senators Shelby and Leahy, for their leadership and their bipartisan work that has laid out the process we are now following to make real progress on our appropriations process. I thank Chairman Lankford for working with me on this bill, and to my colleague Senator Lankford, of Oklahoma, I express my appreciation for his being a great partner, for our positive experience in working together, and for how much I value our collegial relationship. I also thank the key staff of this subcommittee--Andy Newton, Lauren Comeau, and Brian Daner--as well as my own staff--Ellen Murray, Diana Hamilton, and Reeves Hart. These six folks are, I think, exemplars of the people who work here year in and year out, week in and week out and who help make it possible for us to craft large and complicated, bipartisan compromise bills like this one. We are grateful for the positive working experience they have had together and for the spirit with which they have worked to make this bill possible. I am confident this bill fairly allocates funding among many competing priorities, given the subcommittee's allocation and its broad jurisdiction.…”