Tom Cole: “Mr. Chairman, I want to begin by thanking the gentlewoman, the distinguished ranking member of the full committee. There…”

“Mr. Chairman, I want to begin by thanking the gentlewoman, the distinguished ranking member of the full committee. There are a lot of things we disagree on, but we do not disagree on the importance of the power of the purse and the Article I responsibilities of this Chamber. My friend has worked tirelessly and with great distinction and great effort to find common ground and to reassert the power of Congress and the appropriations process. We would not be at the point we are today without all of her hard work, all of her cooperation, and all of her toughness in negotiation as well, and the distinguished staff that she leads. Again, I just want to thank my friend for working with us to get to this point. Mr. Chairman, I think these are excellent bills, and I think they have been written in a cooperative way between distinguished chairs and ranking members of each of these subcommittees. They know their subjects, and they work hard and well together.”