Political Quotes

“I would like to review for the Senate the status of appropriations for fiscal year 2018. The Appropriations Committee has marked up 8 of the 12 regular appropriations bills for this fiscal year. The committee has also processed two supplemental appropriations bills and one continuing resolution. We have little time to finalize the regular appropriations bills and to consider additional supplemental appropriations requests for defense and for natural disaster recovery. We need a new budget deal to finish our work. Congress and the administration must reach agreement on acceptable top-line funding levels for defense and nondefense programs. At the funding cap currently in law, the Appropriations Committee would be hard-pressed to write a 2018 Defense bill that fully meets our national security needs or reflects the priorities of the Senate. The current continuing resolution expires on December 8. We cannot afford to extend that CR into next year. A budget agreement is necessary for the Senate to approve responsible appropriations legislation. I urge all parties to those negotiations to redouble their efforts to reach agreement. ____________________”