Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, a long time ago the Congress passed a statute to bind itself on a fiscal year to complete its appropriations by September 30 of every year. That is the law. Congress passed the law against itself to bind itself. Almost every year since I have been here, at least 9 years out of the 12 that I have been here, we have failed to meet that deadline. So what does the Congress resort to to try to continue its business? It forms a continuing resolution, a temporary set of appropriations, until the time that the final appropriations can be passed. Well, that has caused a lot of mischief. No. 1, it permits the people who control the budget, the appropriators, to favor certain projects and to slip in certain appropriations that we never had contemplated in the original consideration of the bills. Mischief. No. 2, it has permitted 9 times in the last 12, it has allowed, the Federal Government to come to a halt. That is, there was an absence of Government in our country for given periods of time during the after September 30 period until a new budget was allowed. Worst of all, this occurred one time when our Armed Forces were amassing in Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield in 1990.”