Discussion · House of Representatives
Marcy Kaptur Democrat
“House leaders need to let us pass the bills that fund the government on time. We are being sent home for break without finishing this work, and the deadline is October 1. Delaying these bills hurts American families, slows down government services, and keeps agencies from hiring workers.”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to say that the leaders of this Chamber need to allow a return to regular order. We are far from that. We see the constant churn of failed rule votes, budget bills hopelessly behind schedule, Congress sent home, dozens and dozens and dozens of days wasted going away from this Chamber rather than passing the bills that are critical, such as appropriation bills not receiving consideration in the timetable allowed, and with a hail Mary pass pivoting to congressional continuing resolutions instead of passing bills to effectively govern. The Appropriations Committee worked on each of our 12 bills. We did our job and tried to move them forward. For weeks, the Energy and Water Development bill impacting every Congressional District in our Nation has been purposefully delayed after a rule to consider it failed for no good reason. Now we head home. We are being sent home again for the August recess and district work period without Speaker Johnson allowing our work to be completed to fund our country for the coming fiscal year. The fiscal year ends the last day of September. The new fiscal year begins October 1. This Congress has failed in its duty. The clock is ticking even louder. I wish the leadership of this Chamber cared about returning to regular order. We are living through great disorder here, but they seem to be fine kicking the can down the road. This hurts every American family. As they prepare income tax forms, people can’t get answers. It hurts the Department of Veterans Affairs. They can’t hire the staff they need. It hurts every single American calling in to the Federal Government and trying to get answers to questions they have because of understaffing and uncertainty. This isn’t the way to run a country of 340 million people. Someone has to restore regular order to this Congress and this House. My fellow appropriators and I stand ready to do this work. We have done our work. The question is: Will this speaker and his team choose to meet our constitutional responsibilities in Article I? It is not at the end of the Constitution. It is not an amendment. It is Article I of the Constitution to meet our constitutional responsibilities to pass these critical bills to run the government of the United States, or are they going to cede the field again to more uncertainty and chaos?”
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to say that the leaders of this Chamber need to allow a return to regular order. We are far from that. We see the constant churn of failed rule votes, budget bills hopelessly behind schedule, Congress sent home, dozens and dozens and dozens of days wasted going away from this Chamber rather than passing the bills that are critical, such as appropriation bills not receiving consideration in the timetable allowed, and with a hail Mary pass pivoting to congressional continuing resolutions instead of passing bills to effectively govern. The Appropriations Committee worked on each of our 12 bills. We did our job and tried to move them forward. For weeks, the Energy and Water Development bill impacting every Congressional District in our Nation has been purposefully delayed after a rule to consider it failed for no good reason. Now we head home. We are being sent home again for the August recess and district work period without Speaker Johnson allowing our work to be completed to fund our country for the coming fiscal year. The fiscal year ends the last day of September. The new fiscal year begins October 1. This Congress has failed in its duty. The clock is ticking even louder. I wish the leadership of this Chamber cared about returning to regular order. We are living through great disorder here, but they seem to be fine kicking the can down the road. This hurts every American family. As they prepare income tax forms, people can’t get answers. It hurts the Department of Veterans Affairs. They can’t hire the staff they need. It hurts every single American calling in to the Federal Government and trying to get answers to questions they have because of understaffing and uncertainty. This isn’t the way to run a country of 340 million people. Someone has to restore regular order to this Congress and this House. My fellow appropriators and I stand ready to do this work. We have done our work. The question is: Will this speaker and his team choose to meet our constitutional responsibilities in Article I? It is not at the end of the Constitution. It is not an amendment. It is Article I of the Constitution to meet our constitutional responsibilities to pass these critical bills to run the government of the United States, or are they going to cede the field again to more uncertainty and chaos?