Political Quotes

“reserving the right to object, last Congress, Senate and House Appropriations Committee leaders reinstated the practice of congressionally directed spending--or CDS--with bipartisan support. CDS is one very important way for lawmakers to advocate for the communities they represent; and they know best. At the beginning of this Congress, the senior Senator from Maine and I laid out a very robust process alongside our counterparts in the House to accept CDS requests for fiscal year 2024. The process includes important guardrails and requirements to, among other things, ensure transparency, ensure Members do not have financial stakes in the project they seek to fund, ensure projects are eligible to be funded, and that for-profit entities do not receive funding, and more. If a project meets those requirements, it is eligible for funding. This is a Member-driven process, and we respect the eligible projects Members choose to request or to withdraw support for. All four corners worked in a bipartisan way to make sure these bills could reflect the input and priorities of every Member. And that includes funding for eligible projects they have sponsored. But what the Senator from Utah is offering would undo all that hard work and overrule Members about the projects they have secured funding for in this package. That is not how this process can or should work. We have a process here that is driven by the rules we have in place and by Members' requests.…”