Maxwell Frost: “I expect this short-term continuing resolution will pass the House by an overwhelming bipartisan majority. But make no…”

“I expect this short-term continuing resolution will pass the House by an overwhelming bipartisan majority. But make no mistake. When it does, it will represent an overwhelming bipartisan indictment of the failures of this Republican House of Representatives. The fiscal year ends next week, and this Republican-controlled House has passed only five of the 13 appropriation bills. The gentleman who just spoke, the chairman of the committee, is an honorable man and his committee has been doing its work. His own leadership has prevented him from bringing the appropriation bills to the floor even though those bills have been reported out of his committee. Republican leaders have stopped even trying to do their work. They have given up on doing the most basic job Congress is elected to do, fund important initiatives in education, health care, and other key American priorities. It is a shocking abdication of leadership, Mr. Speaker. America is suffering through the weakest economy in 50 years. Unemployment and the poverty rate are up while the stock market and retirement security is down. For too many Americans, the drop in the stock market has turned 401(k) plans into 201(k) plans, but while millions of Americans are busy looking for jobs, House Republicans refuse to do their jobs, the jobs they are getting paid to do. What accounts for this shameful failure to lead, Mr. Speaker?”