John Hall: “tonight this body did something that it failed to do last year under the previous majority by passing legislation to…”

“tonight this body did something that it failed to do last year under the previous majority by passing legislation to direct the spending of our Federal Government. I am disappointed that the choice of the President and the minority to engage in confrontation and obstruction instead of cooperation and progress prevented us from more fully meeting America's needs in this bill. Despite their intransigence, we were able to pass a bill that began to reinvest in critical national priorities that had been neglected for too long. Priorities like life saving medical research, law enforcement, border and homeland security, K-12 education, college aid, needed infrastructure improvements, renewable energy, and energy efficiency. In addition to those steps, this bill lived up to the commitment of this Congress to keep our promises to America's veterans by providing $3.7 billion over the President's request for veterans' medical care, claims processing, and facility improvements. As I indicated this is not a perfect bill. I am deeply troubled by the decision to include language that provides authority for the Department of Energy to issue over $8 billion in loan guarantees to coal-based energy projects, and over $20 billion for nuclear energy projects, while authorizing only $10 billion for renewables and energy efficiency.”