Tom Cole

Mr. Speaker, Procedure · 8 wordsI yield myself the balance of my time.Procedure Mr. Speaker, Thanks · 14 wordsI thank my friend, as always, for working with us in this matter cooperatively.Thanks Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 15 wordsI am very pleased, honestly, with the progress of the House Appropriations Committee this year.Positioning Claims · 17 wordsAgain, all 12 bills were reported out of committee in the fastest time since fiscal year 2020.¹Off point Reasoning · 58 wordsI know those bills aren’t in their final form, and so does my friend. We still need to sit down and bargain together and bargain with the Senate. Out of that, I believe we will emerge with a bipartisan compromise that both sides can be proud of and that we can send to the President for his approval.Vague promise Claims · 41 wordsFor that to occur, the United States Senate has to begin to act. They have to produce bills. For us to go an entire fiscal year almost--we are about 30 days short of it--without a single Senate bill is just unprecedented.² Reasoning · 46 wordsI do not blame that on my Republican colleagues. Frankly, they have the filibuster over there. They have to get to 60.³ They have not been able to do that, and that is going to mean that we are going to have an extraordinarily short time. Claims · 82 wordsI am pleased, however, that the Senate acted. When we passed our continuing resolution over here, we knew it would change when it got to the Senate. Some of those changes, I actually agree with. Some of them, I don’t. They don’t really change the substance or the fact that we bought the time that we need to get through the election cycle and, hopefully, the time that we need to get down to serious bargaining on the other side of it. Promise · 28 wordsFor that to work, again, every person has to be at the table. Every point of view has to be represented, and we have to find common ground.Vague promise Claims · 26 wordsWe were able to do that last year by working together on almost everything--not quite, but almost--and I think we can do that again this year. Reasoning · 9 wordsIt is important for the country that we do. Mr. Speaker, Thanks · 29 wordsagain, I thank my good friend, the ranking member of the full committee, for always being an honest and direct negotiating partner. I know that is going to continue.Thanks Claims · 28 wordsI know we have the same goal of trying to get all of these bills done by the end of the calendar year, if not the fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, The ask · 40 wordsI invite the United States Senate, as a body, to join us in that and produce some product, post some numbers, do something so that we have some idea of what they are thinking about in terms of long-term appropriations. Promise · 19 wordsThen, we will sit down, appropriately, and we will bargain with them and hopefully come to a common conclusion.Vague promise Claims · 11 wordsThe last thing this country needs is a full-year continuing resolution. Reasoning · 78 wordsWe need negotiated, bipartisan bills that achieve the common objectives that, despite the partisan rhetoric of an election year, I know we have together. We have worked together before to defend the country, to advance biomedical research, to take care of early childhood, to help first-time college students, to do all of the things that the United States Government ought to be engaged in and do it in a bipartisan way.Off point I think we can do that again. Claims · 8 wordsThis bill is a step in that direction. Thanks · 9 wordsAgain, I thank my friend for supporting the legislation.Thanks Positioning · 57 wordsI hope our Senate colleagues recognize that we are trying to move along. We didn’t want to fight over things, even the couple of things that we disagreed with. We wanted to bring this to the floor and begin a bipartisan process. Again, I think that is what we will accomplish today if we pass these bills.Positioning Mr. Speaker, The ask · 23 wordsI urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.