Tom Cole: “I continue to reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from…”

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

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.

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

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