Political Quotes

“As ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, I rise to support this bipartisan legislation that ensures the full faith and credit of the United States and sets a path to a responsible appropriations process this year and next. Since the beginning of this year's appropriations process, Democrats have called for relief from damaging, austerity-level budget caps so Congress can invest in our Nation's future. Unfortunately, the majority's budget resolution and appropriation bills would have strangled economic growth and not met our Nation's needs with cuts to Pell Grants that help families pay college tuition and law enforcement grants, for example. The list goes on and on. From the start of the appropriations process, I urged my majority colleagues to negotiate reasonable spending caps that protect our economy and national priorities. I am pleased these talks finally happened and resulted in this bipartisan package that provides an additional $40 billion for defense, $40 billion for non-defense, over 2 years. These investments are critical. Upon its passage, I look forward to working together in a similarly responsible manner to reach bipartisan consensus on the spending bills to avoid a government shutdown in mid-December. I urge passage of this bill so we can immediately begin our appropriations work, already overdue.”