Louise Slaughter: “Mr. Speaker, this annual appropriations dance is growing staler than the Macarena. Year after year, this leadership…”

“Mr. Speaker, this annual appropriations dance is growing staler than the Macarena. Year after year, this leadership attempts to gut programs critical to working families, and year after year they are publicly shamed into finally passing adequate spending levels. Fiscal year 2001 is gearing up to be no different. The rule for this underlying bill is a sham and deserves to be defeated. In the dead of night, the Committee on Rules has rewritten the underlying bill in the hopes it might survive a floor vote. No one in this body has had an opportunity to adequately review this new version, but I can share with my colleagues at least one little gem. According to the new rule, any programs that are forward-funded in the bill will trigger an automatic rescission. And did the majority pick on someone their own size in choosing the program to target for this rescission? Not in the least. The automatic rescission will cut funds from the Child Care Development Block Grant, which funds child care for the poorest children in our Nation. Passing annual appropriations bills remains the most basic and critical function that we perform in this body.”