On the recordDecember 16, 2010
This is the reality: The Appropriations subcommittees--each and every subcommittee of that full committee--met with Democrats and Republicans and prepared a bill. I have the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. Senator Susan Collins of Maine worked long and hard in preparation of that bill. Other subcommittee chairs did the same thing. There was full bipartisan cooperation in the preparation of each of these subcommittee bills--every single one of them. And the appropriations bill that we will vote on is the combination of all of that effort. Let me also talk about the amount of money we are going to appropriate to continue to fund the operations of our Federal Government. It is true, it is over $1 trillion. In fact, it is $1.1 trillion in this bill. But what hasn't been said by Senator McConnell and Senator Kyl is that is exactly the amount they asked for.
