On the recordDecember 6, 2004
I certainly endorse what the gentleman from Wisconsin has said about how this came about and what the intent was. The intent was to provide the proper oversight of a half-a-billion-dollar request for an increase in an agency's budget. But this is not the best way to do business. An omnibus appropriations bill is the last thing you want to do to get the appropriations bills passed. Now, appropriations bills have to pass. You cannot adjourn and not complete the appropriations bills, because then the government shuts down. I am happy and proud to say during my chairmanship, on my watch, we did not have any government shutdowns, we did not have any appropriations bills vetoed, and we had pretty good votes on most all of the appropriations bills. In fact, this year we never got less than 300 votes on an appropriations bill in the House. That is not a bad record.
Source
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