On the recordSeptember 21, 2023
for the last week, we have seen chaos and dysfunction in the House of Representatives as they try to come up with a single bill to fund the government to avert a shutdown. We are now 9 days away from a lapse in funding, and even though it is their responsibility under the Constitution to originate an appropriations bill, they have got nothing. They have no plan to pass a bill that can be signed into law. I want to be really clear about this because when we had this debt ceiling fight earlier in the year, the bar was lowered so much for the House of Representatives that passing anything was considered a legislative victory. All the political pundits and newsletters out there were lauding the House of Representatives for passing a legislative vehicle--not one that could pass, not one that was well thought through, not one that was bipartisan, not one that was on its way to the President's desk, but just like passing something is like a huge victory. I was irritated back then because if Chuck Schumer passed something on a partisan basis that couldn't be enacted by the House and wasn't going to be signed by the President of the United States, nobody would be giving him credit. The point here is to make a law. The point here is to make a law. But they haven't even cleared the bar that was so low in the spring that even if you pass something that is largely symbolic, you have united your caucus and you have shown you can legislate. They have not.…
