José E. Serrano: “we are nearing the finish of this session of the 108th Congress, and I am sure most Members will be heartily glad to see…”

“we are nearing the finish of this session of the 108th Congress, and I am sure most Members will be heartily glad to see it end. Today, we are considering an Omnibus bill making appropriations for departments and agencies that ought to be funded in seven separate appropriations bills, which have been held up by various obstacles, including insufficient allocations and controversial riders--or riders to stop controversial administration policies. On the matter that should be in a separate bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Federal Judiciary, and several important related agencies, we began with a bad budget allocation that has gotten worse and will be further reduced by across-the-board cuts, both within our division of the Omnibus and across the government. I must say that our chairman, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is not to blame for the deficiencies in our portion of this bill. Throughout the process, he has been very fair and has sought to produce the best possible bill, given the limited resources his leadership gave him to work with. For that, I thank him very much. I also cannot thank the staff enough for all their hard work, long hours, and time away from their families.”