Angie Craig: “what I thought I might do for a few moments this afternoon is talk about the state of play of where we are as a Senate…”

“what I thought I might do for a few moments this afternoon is talk about the state of play of where we are as a Senate and as the 106th Congress trying to complete its work and adjourn for the year. I think a good many of us are frustrated at this point. We have tried mightily to produce the appropriations bills, to work with our colleagues, Democrat and Republican. Obviously, there are differences in how to resolve those differences. We are spending billions and billions of dollars more than we spent a year ago. Yes, we have a surplus. But, yes, the American people are telling us government is as big as it ought to be. There are new national priorities, and we are attempting to address those. But what I think needs to happen, and what has historically happened, at least, is an effort to move the 13 appropriations bills through the process, to vote them up or down, and get them to the President.”