Bill Lee: “First of all, let me thank our ranking member for yielding, but also for her tireless work day and night to really help…”

“First of all, let me thank our ranking member for yielding, but also for her tireless work day and night to really help shape this bill to be, in many ways, a bipartisan bill. Also, I thank all of our ranking members. The input that they received from all of us and our staff and the phenomenal work that they have done has just been amazing in spite of the circumstances. So I just have to thank them and Leader Pelosi for all of their very diligent work. Almost 6 months after the deadline, though, for the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill, this 2,232-page omnibus was released late last night. Now, less than 24 hours later, we are about to vote on a bill that really no one has had the time to read. I don't know who in this body has read this bill. We would have had to read 100 pages per hour to get through this bill. Does anybody here read that fast, 100 pages per hour? What kind of informed decisions are we making with this last-minute rush for a vote? This is no way, Mr. Speaker, to run a government. However, yes, this omnibus has some really good provisions in it. It eliminates hundreds of poison pill riders ranging from efforts to defund Planned Parenthood to dismantling of critical labor and consumer protections. I am very grateful for that. Many good provisions include a new competitive grant which we have been working on for years for computer science funding for young girls and people of color.…”