Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, this day has been a long time coming. The omnibus appropriations measure that we will take up in a few minutes has followed a long and torturous path to enactment. But rather than point fingers and try to assign blame for months of delay, I hope my colleagues will instead focus on moving this important legislation forward as expeditiously as possible. In this difficult budget climate, cuts have been made in a number of popular programs. However, at the same time the Committee on Appropriations has recommended increases in quite a few other important areas. In other words, Mr. Speaker, they have prioritized the spending in these difficult times. It is simply not possible in a bill this large to list all of the major provisions, but I would like to highlight several that may be of general interest to the Members. The bill includes an increase of $79 million for the Drug Enforcement Administration and more than $6 billion for immigration enforcement activities to strengthen our borders against terrorists and facilitate border crossings for legitimate travelers and workers.”