Tom Cole: “And I don't know what the final number will be, but for 7 years in a row, we have been able to increase this program.”

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

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

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

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.