Jay Rockefeller: “as the 109th Congress wraps up its final session, I want to note my disappointment that the current leadership decided…”

“as the 109th Congress wraps up its final session, I want to note my disappointment that the current leadership decided not to work on all 10 of the appropriations bills that remain undone. Congress is adjourning and walking away with much of our work incomplete. It is irresponsible and wrong. We should have stayed and made the tough decisions to get the appropriations done. The Federal budget is due October 1. We missed that deadline, as we have often in recent years. The leadership adjourned for the elections, and when we returned the leadership lacked the will and determination to finish the appropriations bill. Many individuals Senators, including me, would have stayed and worked hard to get the job done. But we were overridden. Failure to enact the appropriations in a timely manner hurts programs because administrators cannot plan and they cannot hire staff in a timely manner. This can create real problems in our VA hospitals, our Head Start agencies and the clinics funded by the Maternal and child health block grant. This year, instead of doing our work, the congressional leaders are punting the tough budget decisions into the next year and the next Congress. On February 15, 2007, when the continuing resolution, CR, expires, agencies will have been operating for 4½ months under a CR which represents more than a third of the fiscal year. This imposes burdens and hardships on the people that our agencies of Government serve. It is failure of leadership.”