Tom Cole: “I would like to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Florida, the former chairman of the Transportation…”

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

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

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