Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman for yielding. He is a true gentleman. The long service that this man has contributed to the welfare of the Nation and to its defense, we can never repay Jerry Lewis for the great job he has done as chairman and ranking member of this committee.

Mr. Speaker, how can we explain this year's so-called budget process to the American people? Should I begin with the historic failure to enact a budget resolution? How about the despicable way special interest bailout funds were dumped on the backs of our troops during the war supplemental debate?

What about the Band-aid border security supplemental that was used for political cover just months before the President proposed cutting the Border Patrol? And who could forget the fact that this year marks the first year, the very first year, the House has failed to pass a Homeland Security appropriations bill, a failure that came in the midst of several serious terrorist attacks and disrupted plots?

Then there are the results: no discipline, no oversight, no bills. Instead, we have this monstrosity before us today, a measure that punts our fiscal and oversight responsibilities into a year-long CR that is laden with exceptions, gimmicks, and riders. And it is based upon a strategy of the Senate overriding this bill with a gigantic unaffordable omnibus bill that has never seen the light of day.

Mr. Speaker, that is not a budget process. That is a failure of epic proportions.

As we were resoundingly told just 5 weeks ago, the American taxpayers are demanding far better from the stewards of their precious, but limited, dollars. We need a whole new ball game; no more bucking tough decisions, no more failing to prioritize our security needs, no more letting failing programs slide, and no more enabling the overreach of Federal agencies. We need to go back to the tough job of oversight. We need to go back and usher in a new era of collaboration and transparency. And we need to do the hard work of cutting spending, right-sizing the government, and restoring the trust of the American people.

This CR marks the culmination of failure on all fronts: process, product and performance. I urge my returning colleagues to reject this legislation and prepare to go to work in the 112th Congress.

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