Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the United States is considering H.R. 2608, a continuing resolution to ensure our vital Federal programs can continue in operation while the Congress completes action on our appropriations bills for this fiscal year. As all of my colleagues are aware, I do not welcome the reality that we once again need to approve of stopgap measures as we prepare to begin the next fiscal year, but, unfortunately, that is the position we are in now. The acrimonious and time-wasting debate on raising the debt ceiling has led us to this place. Put simply, we have no choice but to pass this short-term measure. I wish to point out, however, that unlike last year, we see this as a short-term need, not a long-term remedy, because even though there was neither an agreement on spending levels nor an allocation to the Appropriations Committee for discretionary spending until the August recess commenced, I am happy to inform my colleagues that the Senate Appropriations Committee has completed its work on 11 of the 12 bills required to fund our Federal agencies. In the past 3 weeks, the Appropriations Committee has met to review and favorably approve 10 bills for fiscal year 2012. Eight of those bills were reported out of committee in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, and by that I mean something like 29 to 1. The Senate has received five of these bills from the House. The Appropriations Committee is ready to take up any of these bills on the floor when time allows.…”