Virginia Foxx: “Our House Republicans remain committed to a bipartisan solution to reopen the Federal Government for the American…”

“Our House Republicans remain committed to a bipartisan solution to reopen the Federal Government for the American people. And we continue to act in good faith to find an agreement with Senate Democrats to do just that. But to build a bipartisan compromise, the Senate needs to come to the table so we can work through our policy differences. My colleague from Maryland gave a quote from one of our colleagues. But he neglected to mention that Senator Harry Reid said, ``Why would we pass bills to keep the NIH operating and help children with cancer?'' We've offered such a bill. And guess what? One hundred seventy-one Democrats voted against pediatric cancer research. One hundred seventy-two Democrats voted against funding the national parks. One hundred sixty-four Democrats voted against funding veterans benefits. Mr. Speaker, that doesn't sound like people who want to get the government back open. Harry Reid said, ``Why would we want to do a piecemeal approach?'' Well, we all know, and the American people know, that the way we pass appropriations bills here, and the way we have the government running, is by passing individual bills. We have 12 different bills that we normally pass. The House has passed five and sent them to the Senate, and the Senate has acted on none of them. So now we are doing it the way it's supposed to be done, under regular order. We are bringing the bills to the floor and passing them. And yet the Senate will not act on them.…”