Hal Rogers: “This continuing resolution we spent the last hour debating is absolutely necessary to keep the lights on in our…”

“This continuing resolution we spent the last hour debating is absolutely necessary to keep the lights on in our government. A shutdown is not what our businesses need, not what our troops need, not what our people need, and not what our country needs. The CR is straightforward. It's short term. It gives us the time we need to sort out our fiscal differences with the other body. By funding the government until December 15, Congress and the President will have time to construct a budgetary path forward that deals with the most pressing fiscal issues we face, raising the debt ceiling and constructing one common discretionary number while we find true savings, especially through entitlement reform. Now this motion to recommit picks out a few programs and would fund them for the entire next year, not the next 90 days, not until December 15. This motion would pick out a few programs to continue funding for the rest of the year. Well, that's not the issue. It misses the point. The issue is whether we can get agreement on an overall discretionary number and replace sequester for all programs, not just a few. To get the additional time to negotiate, we've got to pass this CR now. The motion also addresses the importance of Social Security and Medicare. There's nothing in this CR that does anything but preserve these programs and protect the benefit payments for each and every recipient.…”