Hal Rogers: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding this time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which will reopen…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding this time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which will reopen the doors of our national parks and memorials, the Smithsonian museums and facilities, and the Holocaust Museum. I couldn't believe my ears when the gentleman who just spoke said that he opposed the opening of these icons for Americans to visit. I can't believe that you would oppose that. The Capital City draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the country--from all over the world, in fact--every year. To turn these visitors away from the highlights of this country is unbefitting of the Capital City. All over the country, our national parks preserve our rich national heritage and serve as a reminder to all of us of our history and the vast beauty that makes this Nation great. This legislation is essentially a portion of the clean continuing resolution I introduced several weeks ago. This is a piece of it. With that in mind, I certainly endorse this path forward. To keep these programs, parks, memorials, and facilities operational, this bill provides funding at the current annual rate of approximately $3.2 billion. This is $2.4 billion for the national parks, $775 million for the Smithsonian museums and $48 million for the Holocaust Museum. While this bill helps to provide stability in this segment of the Federal Government, our jobs are far from done. We can't just fund the government in bits and pieces forever.…”