Tom Cole: “But just for the record, this is not a policy. It is the law. It is a law that Congress passed.”

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

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

We're going to be in a crunch time.

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.