Rob Woodall: “The buzz you hear around this Chamber, I suspect, is enthusiasm for the underlying bill. This is the legislative branch…”

“The buzz you hear around this Chamber, I suspect, is enthusiasm for the underlying bill. This is the legislative branch appropriations bill for FY 2017, and it is the single piece of legislation that enables all of the constituent services that go on from this institution. I want to say that again. Not one act of constituent service would go on anywhere in this country but for this underlying text. It is the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, led by my friend and colleague from Georgia, cardinal Tom Graves. They do great work on the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, Mr. Speaker. It is no surprise to my colleagues in this Chamber that the House Appropriations Committee has been hard at work in producing those 12 appropriations bills that we are required to pass every year. Our success record in getting that done as a body has been spotty, but the success record of our committee in getting that done has been historic. Even more, unlike many bills that come to this floor, the Appropriations Committee has said: Do you know what? We did the very best that we could do, but we welcome the input and counsel from our colleagues because we all have different experiences; we all come from different parts of the country; and we all have something to add. So this bill, Mr. Speaker, makes in order 13 different amendments-- seven offered by Republicans, six offered by Democrats--so that we can improve this bill and discuss this bill even more.…”