On the recordJanuary 16, 2014
I wish to talk about the omnibus for a brief time before Senator Leahy has some remarks to be made. First of all, I thank the chair and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee and their staffs for their hard work to draft a sensible funding bill that I think meets the needs of the American people, a bill that helps us move past the stalemate and disagreements of the past few years and does what the American people sent us to do; that is, roll up our sleeves, work together, work hard, and govern. Recently, folks have put politics and partisanship ahead of our constituents and our responsibilities, and the results have not been pretty. But thanks to Chairman Mikulski and Ranking Member Shelby and their counterparts in the House of Representatives, we now have a responsible bipartisan bill we can work with, one that invests in our future to strengthen our economy but that makes tough choices so we can continue to get our fiscal house in order. Approving this bill helps avoid another round of devastating sequester cuts, avoid a government shutdown, and avoid some of the bitterness that is dragging down economic growth. In Montana, our seniors, children, women, and civilian members of the military--to name a few--felt the sequester cuts head on. Kids could not go to Head Start.…
