Tom Cole: “We don't deal with our entitlement crisis; we don't deal with the bigger fiscal issues in front of us.”

It reinforces support for key allies - like Israel and Taiwan - and directly counters threats from Communist China and other regimes that challenge our interests and principles.

For anyone questioning this legislation, the facts are simple — it extends the government funding deadline to Dec. 4, denying any party the opportunity to manufacture leverage before elections.

We're going to be in a crunch time.

It gives the nation and our constituents certainty, certainty that the government will remain open, certainty that our service members will be paid.