Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last week, I came to the floor to warn that we are moving closer to a yearlong continuing resolution, or a CR, that would have devastating implications for every Federal Agency-- particularly the Department of Defense. We are 5 months into the fiscal year. Soon, the House will send over another stop-gap measure so we can avoid a shutdown for a few more weeks. When the short-term funding bill expires, the fiscal year will be halfway over. We need to get this work done. As outlined last week, Democrats put a deal on the table months ago that gave Republicans what they wanted--more funding for defense than the $22 billion increase that President Biden sought and less money for nondefense programs than he requested. This should have been an easy deal for them to accept. Indeed, the defense funding number that Democrats are willing to agree to is the number that Republicans on the Armed Services Committee proposed this summer and that was incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act. But even with that defense number in hand, our Republican colleagues continue to draw out negotiations, pushing us closer to a full-year continuing resolution that would fund defense at a level that is less than President Biden initially requested and about $37 billion lower than the level set out in the NDAA. I think that is important.…”