David Obey: “once again we are being asked to pass a resolution that keeps the government open because Congress has not finished its…”

“once again we are being asked to pass a resolution that keeps the government open because Congress has not finished its work on appropriation bills. That is not unprecedented. Many times in the past we have faced this situation. But I do think that it is harder to understand when we have one party in control of all of the tools of government. When one party is in control of the Presidency and both the House and the Senate, it ought to be somewhat easier to get the work done on time. Over the past 34 years, one party has been in control of all three of those power centers, the Presidency, the Senate and the House, 6 years. The average number of appropriation bills that had been passed by the time the fiscal year ended in those 6 years was twice as high as it is today. Today we have only three appropriation bills passed. That, in my view, is no reflection whatsoever on the majority leadership of the Appropriations Committee. I think if things were left to the committee, we would be much further along the road. The reason that we have not completed our work is largely because the majority party leadership in this House has determined that they only want to pass appropriation bills on the majority party's side of the aisle. The majority party has a right to define itself and lay out what its first preferences are. The minority party has a similar right and obligation. But then both parties, in the end, are supposed to seek a way to resolve those differences.…”