Roy Blunt: “I rise today to discuss the bill that is on the floor. The very fact that we have this bill on the floor deserves some…”

“I rise today to discuss the bill that is on the floor. The very fact that we have this bill on the floor deserves some attention. We have an appropriations bill on the energy and water responsibilities of the Federal Government. I think this is the first time this bill has been on the Senate floor in 7 years. With the current majority, the Appropriations Committee is 1 month ahead of any time in recent history that bills have been marked up and brought to the floor. The majority leader set aside 12 weeks to do the work that for decades--in fact, for a couple of centuries--was the core work of what the Congress did. The Congress set the priorities of the country by having an open and free debate on how the Congress and the country would spend the money that was entrusted to the Congress--the long-ranging discussion of the power of the purse. You know, you don't have to be a great student of American history to say: Well, don't you men and women in the Congress have the power of the purse? Well, we do have it, according to the Constitution, but we have not had it in the practice of the last 6 or 7 years when the work of the Congress simply was not done in a way that people could see what was going on or that Members could freely weigh in. One of the things about the debate we are having on this Energy and Water bill is that any Member of the Senate can come to the floor and they can say: Don't spend this money at all.…”