Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to speak about the appropriations process and the need to return it to regular order. I come to the floor very bitter that we have to pass this continuing resolution, CR. The power of the purse is our constitutional prerogative. I am for regular order. Regular order is the most important reform to avoid continuing resolutions and omnibus bills. Regular order starts with the Appropriations subcommittees and then full committee marking up 12 individual bills. Chairman Inouye has led these bills out of Committee for the last 2 years, as Chairman Byrd did before him. Then the full Senate considers 12 bills on the floor and all Senators have a chance to amend and vote on the bills. This, however, has not happened since the 2006 spending bills. Lack of regular order means trillion dollar omnibuses or continuing resolutions. If a bill costs a trillion dollars, then opponents ask why can't we cut it by 20 percent--what will it matter? But we are dealing with actual money; it is not authorizing, which is advisory. There are real consequences. If we are really going to tackle the debt, the Appropriations Committee must be at the table. Tackling the debt can't be done just through Budget and Finance Committees alone. What are the real life consequences of this CR? Well, this CR means that it will be harder to keep America safe.…”