Sanford Bishop: “I thank the gentleman from Washington for yielding. Madam Speaker, today marks the end of the FY11 process, a process…”

“I thank the gentleman from Washington for yielding. Madam Speaker, today marks the end of the FY11 process, a process that should have been completed a long, long time ago. Failing to stop a government shutdown would have destroyed the American people's confidence in the ability of Congress to govern. Thankfully, with only minutes to spare last week, the House, the Senate, and the White House came together to avoid a government shutdown, striking a compromise to keep our Federal Government running for the remainder of FY11. This bill is by no means perfect. I am particularly concerned about the impact of funding reductions to several areas, including a $35 billion cut in Pell Grants for our students; $700 million in cuts for our local and State law enforcement personnel, the people who keep us safe; and I am also very concerned about our rural agricultural communities and the $433 million cut to the Farm Service Agency for direct and indirect loans. But, Madam Speaker, this bill is a far cry from the draconian meat- cleaver approach of H.R. 1, and I hope my colleagues will think about what we just went through and use this final resolution as an example of how we should approach FY12. Our country cannot afford to repeat the irresponsible process going forward that we resolve here today. Democrats and Republicans on both sides of Capitol Hill must work in a bipartisan fashion to produce a responsible budget that will help grow our economy and responsibly reduce our deficit.…”