Roy Blunt: “I would say that I believe that I reflect the view of this side that the debates both on the policy issues, that I…”

“I would say that I believe that I reflect the view of this side that the debates both on the policy issues, that I frankly think may be appropriate in some other bill besides an appropriations bill, on the policy issues and the spending issues, a full and free opportunity to discuss those is the desire of this side. I think it serves the best interest of the country. As this appropriations bill gets broader and broader in the areas it deals with, it becomes more and more like the regular appropriations bills we will bring to the floor, and the tradition of the House, unaltered by any pattern I am aware of, has been on appropriations bills, as long as the Member was willing to say where they would pay for the change that they want to make, that they have been given the opportunity to make those amendments. I was disappointed, as broad-based and as big as the continuing resolution was that we passed earlier, that it violated what I considered a well-understood and time-honored principle of amending those bills.”