Tom Cole: “Well, that is--I have no more passion and advocate for this committee than my ranking member; I can tell you that.”

The Senate has wasted the entire year and a half. They have not passed a single bill.

Our conference refuses to let the obstruction and inaction of Senate Democrats trigger another manufactured shutdown at the end of September. That is why we are acting before a funding lapse crisis, not in response to it.

The bill before us is a clean, narrowly tailored continuing resolution that keeps the government open and operating. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I hold the Democrats in the Senate most responsible, but I don’t excuse the Republicans for letting them do it.