Political Quotes

“While it was my sincere hope that we could have completed action on all 12 appropriation bills before the end of the fiscal year, I understand Chairman Rogers' desire to quickly pass the CR and prevent another disastrous government shutdown. This continuing resolution gives the House and Senate Appropriations Committees roughly 3 months to reach agreement on each of the discretionary bills and the important programs they fund. Of great importance in these negotiations will be the funding levels in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill. Unfortunately, it has the dubious distinction of being the only one not even brought to the full committee for markup, denying Members on both sides of the aisle the opportunity to offer amendments and have a full, open debate about these critical programs. Yesterday, Ranking Member DeLauro and all the Democratic members of that subcommittee introduced our version of the bill that we hope will help clarify our priorities for the process in the coming months. The CR portion of this legislative package contains much-needed funding to address urgent crises, including the spread of Ebola, ensuring critical work continues to develop and manufacture treatment therapies, as well as work on a vaccine. However, I do regret that the majority's proposed CR resorts to one of the worst legislative mechanisms to reduce scoring, an across-the- board cut.…”