Political Quotes

“At the outset, I want to thank Chairman Frelinghuysen. It has been a pleasure for me to work with him. I am cautiously optimistic that we will complete this process. Although overdue, we will get our work done. This is the third continuing resolution during fiscal year 2017. We should be voting today on a bipartisan omnibus appropriations act, not another stopgap bill to keep the government running. After all, we are 7 months into the fiscal year. Federal departments and agencies have been operating on outdated funding levels and policies for more than half of the year. This is unacceptable, and it cannot continue. Assuming we get to a solution that lasts the remainder of the fiscal year, I do hope Chairman Frelinghuysen will help avoid this outcome in the future. The continuing resolution we are considering today is a simple date change to continue government funding through next Friday and to extend health insurance for miners through the same day. The backdrop of this continuing resolution is ongoing negotiations on an omnibus appropriations act. Democrats continue to work in good faith to develop a bipartisan omnibus that provides sufficient funding for critical priorities and rejects divisive poison pill riders. For many months, Democrats have been clear that we will not help pass an omnibus that fails to meet these basic standards, and that remains the case.…”