On the recordJanuary 19, 2018
We are confronting a very serious situation, as all of us know, and that is we have not reached agreement on how to fund the government between now and September 30 of this year. Almost one-third of fiscal year 2018 is gone. At some point in time-- the majority leader is not available right now, therefore, I am not asking him to yield, because he has something important that he is doing now--but at some point in time, Madam Speaker, I am hoping that the majority leader will come before us and we can have a colloquy on what we intend to do during the course of this day, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps Sunday, perhaps Monday, perhaps Tuesday, in order to get the business of the country done. I am urging my Members to be available on very short notice so that they can complete the work of funding our government for fiscal year 2018. I hope that all other Members will be available to do so as well. That is our responsibility. We have not yet met that responsibility. Therefore, I want to give notice to my Members that we need to be here. The Senate has not acted. We do not know what they will do. We need to be available for their action. I know the majority leader suggested that it was okay to leave and go home. I want to make it clear that is not my view. We have not completed our work. The American public expects us to do that.…





