Political Quotes

“As everybody knows, I had the delightful opportunity of serving on the Appropriations Committee as an active member for 23 years. I am on leave, and I may be on leave forever, who knows, but I care a lot about these bills. These are the only bills that have to pass. They are the only bills that if they don't pass, the government shuts down. They are the bills that used to bring us together. It is relatively easy to compromise on figures, but it is difficult to compromise on other issues. Although, I will say, as I begin my remarks--and I am not going to be that long, but as I begin my remarks, I voted for, in the 1980s and 1990s and over the last 20 years, for appropriations bills in which there were contained issues that I severely disagreed with, and I know Ms. DeLauro has as well. But I know that overall we had to pass the bills, and that I thought then, and I think now, that the bills were largely dealing with what the American people wanted us to deal with. So I rise today, Madam Speaker, in support of these bills, the seven in this package, and hopefully, three to come, and the two thereafter, whenever we bring them to the floor. Last Congress, after Democrats took control of the House majority, we passed legislation to fund nearly all of government before the end of the summer. I was very proud of that. We passed it in June of 2019, and we passed it in July of 2020. We have done that 2 years in a row now.…”