Tom Cole: “We are either going to have a continuing resolution or we are going to have a negotiated bipartisan agreement.”

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

The only reason we’re doing it now is, first, the Senate Democrats, I think, have misused the filibuster, and honestly, the Republicans have let them misuse the filibuster.

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.

We want to take away the possibility of a shutdown between now and the election.