Political Quotes

“I want to make a comment that I know the CR will be the vehicle. I know Mr. Tom Cole made a comment--and I have talked to him about it--with which I agree. I am disappointed, our side is disappointed, and I think some on your side with whom I have talked are disappointed that we were unable to do an omnibus appropriations bill which would reflect the work of the committee on our side and, indeed, the work of the committees on the other side of the aisle. A CR is not helpful to management, obviously, not knowing specifically what resources they will have available for the balance of the year. Very frankly, although there will be anomalies in the bill to reflect the changes from last year's funding levels, they will undoubtedly not take care of a funding stream which will be appropriate for good management in the Federal Government. I would hope in the year ahead that we would certainly work toward having bipartisan appropriation bills done bill by bill. Both sides have had trouble doing that from time to time, but let's hope that we can work toward that end. Because a CR, in many ways, is simply a failure; and forgetting about who is at fault or who is not at fault, it is a failure to operate the government in a way that is rational, reasonable, and most effective. So I want to make that comment. I know the gentleman agrees with me on trying to go through regular order, and it is unfortunate that we didn't get there.…”