Marcy Kaptur: “I thank the ranking member of the full committee, Nita Lowey of New York, and the chairman, Hal Rogers, for the…”

“I thank the ranking member of the full committee, Nita Lowey of New York, and the chairman, Hal Rogers, for the perseverance they have shown throughout this process. I rise to address the bill before us to fund the departments of the government of the United States for the federal fiscal year 2015 which incidentally began over 2 months ago. Though 2 months late and a Christmas tree bill at that, what is very troubling in this measure are dangerous and unwelcome nongermane riders--like opening the door to more Wall Street abuse and reckless behavior with swaps and derivatives. Haven't those megabanks hurt America enough? What is this doing in this bill? This underhanded inclusion of authorizing language does not belong in this bill. This subterfuge reminds me of a similar effort in 2000 to bury language in a Continuing Appropriations bill to not regulate derivatives at all. Look what that did to our economy. I recognize that not passing this bill can severely hamper our economic recovery and job creation. Many of us view these as the top priorities our constituents have sent us here to achieve. Job growth this past month increased again by 321,000, as the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent nationwide. We have gained 10 million private sector jobs since President Obama took office amid the deepest recession in modern history, but still, 9.1 million Americans remain unemployed. This bill will promote future economic growth which is in America's interests.…”