Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise to support passage of the continuing resolution, but I am frustrated that we find ourselves here yet again. Yet again, the Democratic House did its job. We passed our bills to fund most Federal agencies in July. It is now September. The end of the fiscal year is in 8 days, but Leader McConnell and the Republican Senate have not moved a single one of the 12 appropriations bills that we are supposed to pass every year. As an Appropriations subcommittee chair, I feel compelled to call out this gross dereliction of duty. A CR is obviously not ideal. But the bill before us today keeps government functioning and includes fixes to facilitate coronavirus relief, which we should have done completely separately and more significantly. The bill allows the Small Business Administration to continue to process disaster loans, which are a lifeline for many struggling small businesses. It allows FEMA access to fiscal year 2021 funding for the Disaster Relief Fund, to allow them to respond to emergencies and natural disasters. I am particularly proud that we increase funding for the Veterans Electronic Health Record Modernization to support the increased number of deployments of the modernized system at planned sites going into fiscal year 2021, ensuring the 10-year modernization remains on schedule and on budget.…”