Kay Bailey Hutchison: “Thank, you Mr. President. Mr. President, I want to talk today about something that I think will be coming up next week…”

“Thank, you Mr. President. Mr. President, I want to talk today about something that I think will be coming up next week, and that is the supplemental appropriations bill. This will be the first appropriations bill that has come to the floor this year. So I think it is wise for us to set the policy for how we are going to handle appropriations for the full year. All of us remember 1995 and the time that Government shut down, putting Government employees in a situation of not being quite sure if they would get paid, not being able to work even if they wanted to. We had people who had planned for family vacations who were not able to get into the Washington Monument or the Smithsonian or many of our national parks. As we begin to set the policy for how Congress is going to handle appropriations this year, I think it is most important we set the ground rules to have a functioning Government at a reasonable level so there will not be any fears of a Government shutdown; So that agencies can plan in case some of the appropriations bills are not passed by September 30.”